End of Innocence v2
by Dixxy Mouri
Summary: EoI rewritten. Cye looses his virginity to rape one violent night and learns he's a father nine months later. Five years after running away, Cye meets an old friend and discovers there's trouble brewing back in Toyama. . .
1. Prologue

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Prologue

Sae stood in the doorway of the small seaside cottage that she and her small family called home. She looked out onto the waves, blonde hair moving softly with the fresh, salty air as the sun rose over the mighty Atlantic, shining brightly for all to see. Her eyes moved down to watch the sea foam crashing into the shoreline, brining clam shells and the occasional piece of garbage to the shore with it. Sae really wanted to change into her swimsuit and go for a swim, but there wouldn't be time for that today.

"Sae!"

"What do you want, shrimp?" she asked, looking down at her twelve year old brother. Cye looked up at his sister, large, sea green eyes shining brightly. "Well? Out with it already."

"Mum's not up yet," he said. He smiled, looked to his sister for attention. "I just wanted to spend some time with you before I leave."

Sae snorted. "Yeah, right, why would you even care about me? I'm always teasing you and being mean to you like any other self righteous sibling should be."

Cye frowned. "Because I'll be gone for a LONG time. It's not like I'm going on a short holiday- I'll be gone until at LEAST college, but it could be even longer than that! I'm not even going to be coming home for the summer!"

_Thank the Lord you aren't, _she thought to herself. "Yeah, I know. You haven't shut up about it since you got accepted for this exchange program of yours."

"Sae, Japan is going to be exciting!" said Cye, clasping his hands together in excitement. "I'm going to be in a whole different country! A whole different continent! I'll be speaking A WHOLE NEW LANGUAGE!"

"Which is the language you've been choosing to speak in since you finished that crash course on the Japanese language," she said. "I swear, if I hear you say 'Moshi, moshi' over the phone one more time I'm going to pop that puny little head off of your scrawny little body and send you to China."

"But, I'm going to Japan."

"Oh whatever!" said Sae, throwing her hands up. She glared at her younger brother. "I am fifteen years old, Cye. I care about my friends, boys- NOT like you-, clothes, and school. Without you around, I can throw more parties, and, I won't have to baby-sit you anymore. I'll be going out with my friends instead of staying home with YOU. This is good for me, because while you're stuck in some culture that worships girls in sailor costumes controlling giant flying robots, I'LL be doing something USEFUL with my time."

Cye bit his bottom lip, his eyes quivering. Her brother finally ran back into the house, crying hysterically. Sae watched him run back inside. "Just a few more hours, Sae. A few more hours and you won't have to deal with the little dork for a whole six years."

Later that day, Sae sat at the airport with her mother and brother, Cye clutching his stuffed whale as he looked nervously at the gate. They hadn't called his flight number for boarding yet, so there was still time for the small family to talk in person. Like Sae cared. Once the little brat was gone, she was throwing a party. Well, maybe she'd throw one in a few days. AFTER he was gone. That would work out better. If she did it that night, she'd get grounded until he came back. Which would really stink.

Hell, it would suck royally.

Cye stood up and walked over to Sae. "Sae?" he asked, sitting next to her. Sae didn't say anything (Dixxy's note: That sounds almost as weird as "Cye sighed"). "Why do you hate me?"

Sae stopped. She hadn't expected him to say THAT. He thought that she hated him? "I, I don't hate you," she said.

"Then why can't you wait for me to leave the country, then? Why did you say all that stuff you said this morning if you don't hate me?" he asked.

The older sibling took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Well, we're siblings. Brother and sister, right?"

"Right," said Cye. "I know that!"

"I'm the older of us. So I'm more interested in things older kids like and you're still a little into toys and kid stuff. Since I'm not into that kind of stuff anymore, it seems immature and annoying to me at times. Trust me, Cye, you can be a major league pain sometimes."

Cye looked at her through his huge, sea green eyes. "Why?"

"Well, whenever you pester me about things you don't understand or try to tag along with me and my friends. My friends tease me about my little brother always wanting to do everything that I do," said Sae. She sighed heavily. "I guess that sometimes you embarrass me, especially when you ramble off some sort of a fact I couldn't have ever known on my own time."

"The fact that I like you is an embarrassment?" he said.

"It's hard to explain," said Sae. "When you get older and little kids start wanting to hang around you, you might understand."

"We're younger than Mum and she doesn't get annoyed with us," he said.

"That's different," said Sae. "She's our mother. I guarantee you there are times she wants to strangle you and/or me, sometimes both of us, but she loves us both very much. And I guess I love you, too, Squirt. You do know that if anyone tried to pound you I'd pound them tenfold, right?"

"You would?"

"Yup. Pounding you is MY job," she said. In response, she hooked her arm around his neck and gave him a noogie. Cye protested, trying to pull away as her knuckles bore down on top of his skull. Sae laughed, grinning as he slipped out of her headlock. "You make sure you call and write, you here me?"

Cye's eyes widened in wonder. "Do you mean it?"

Sae nodded. "Of course I do. Bring me back a kimono, why don't you?"

Her younger brother squealed and hugged her, happy to have his sister's approval. Sae held him tightly, suddenly not wanting Cye to go.

"_Flight 568 London to Tokyo is now boarding. Flight 568 London to Tokyo is now boarding_," called the intercom.

Cye looked up at Sae. "I have to go now," he said.

Sae sniffled. "Maybe I'll come visit you sometime," she said. "When I get out of school, you know?" Cye nodded, picking up his belongings. He started off towards the gate, his ticket in hand. Sae watched, a deep pit in her stomach as she watched one of the flight attendants put a hand on his shoulder and lead him down to the plane. Cye looked over his shoulder and smiled, waving. Sae nodded, standing next to her mother.

"Stay safe, shrimp!" she said.

Cye laughed. "I will!" he said. "Bye, Sae!" With that, he disappeared amongst a crowd of people. Sae bit her lip, fighting tears. But it was no use, and she broke down into her mother's shoulder.

"I'm gonna miss the little pain," said Sae, sobbing.

Sae's mother placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "He'll be back, Sae. Someday, he'll come back. . ."


	2. The Girl in the Short Black Skirt

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter One: The Girl in the Short Black Skirt

"Kento, if you don't quit commandeering the breakfast pastries than I'm going to do something SOO painful to your worthless hide that you'll be regretting the day your MOTHER was born!" Ryo threatened. Kento just smiled and handed our "fearless leader" a double package of strawberry Pop-Tarts before walking off with the rest of the box.

"Now was that really necessary?" I asked as Kento sat next to me. My best friend nodded, guzzling a tall glass of milk. He wiped his milk mustache away with the back of his hand. "Really, Kento, it's the first day of school today- do you honestly think that we have time to play games?"

"Yes," he said. I groaned, burying my fingers into my messy auburn hair. Sometimes, Kento was BEYOND explanation. This was one of those moments. I resorted to watching Rowen try not to fall asleep in his cereal, which was actually somewhat amusing.

Mia came downstairs, brushing her hair. "Come on, come on! You guys have school today!" she said, reaching for a banana. "You can't be late on your first day of school! If you're late for school then you'll start off on the wrong foot with all of your teachers and you just CAN'T do that or else you'll all fail!"

"She's had coffee," Sage remarked as he stood up to go to the bathroom. Mia was about to tell him off, but the rest of us were snickering too much to really give her any back-up on the situation.

Yuli bounded down the stairs, grabbing one of Kento's Pop-Tart packets. "Bye guys!" he said, waving. Kento stared at Yuli, whimpered, but waved anyways, despite the fact that Yuli had accomplished what the rest of us had failed to do that morning. The youngest member of our household had a bus to catch, after all.

"Behave in school!" Mia called. Yuli nodded, giving his new caretaker a thumbs up as he walked out the front door. Mia smiled, sighing happily, then looked at the rest of us again. "Well? Why are you all standing there? Get going!"

That day, school was filled with your typical first day lectures; class rules, syllabuses, expectations, safety measures, and all sorts of safety forms that had to be signed by parental guardians. I smiled at that- I didn't have a parental guardian. I was legally independent, so all I had to fill out was the emergency contact, namely Mia.

I met up with the others at lunch, though it took a while to find them amongst the swarm of teenagers that also went to our high school, Han A' High. The five of us found a table in the back, where we compared our days and what it was like to be in the new school.

"Some of the teachers here are total butt holes, but some, like Sensei Hiroko, she's awesome!" said Kento, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "I have her for chemistry. She said that she's going to teach us how to make stink bombs by the end of the year!"

"Aw, man, my science teacher's only having us grow crystals. I did that YEARS ago!" said Ryo, stirring his chili with a pout on his face. "It's just rock candy, for crying out loud. I'm a JUNIOR. I want to do JUNIOR stuff, not little kid stuff."

"That's nothing," said Sage. "My literature teacher is a loon, but at least he's teaching us at out level. He told us the only survival skill we need in his class is the ability to catch a ball and answer questions apon catching the ball."

I laughed. "I had a teacher like that once. We'd study for exams like that," I said. "My math teacher's cool. He's from the United States, and the two of us had a conversation in English and confused the rest of the class." I snorted with another laugh. "That was SOO funny! This one guy started to complain about it and the two of us started to insult him in Pig Latin."

"My trigonometry teacher is going to bring us to an engineering discussion group," said Rowen. "And my advanced placement physics class is going to the Japanese Disney Land (Note: I think there's a Disney park in Japan, someone correct me if I'm wrong) to discuss the physics of the rides."

Kento frowned. "My history teacher talked non-stop today about his stupid hamster. He needs to get a girlfriend and get laid. Fast," he said dryly. "Honestly, some of that stuff we just didn't need to know. Who CARES about what kind of food a rodent the size of small apple eats? I sure don't."

"Hi! I haven't seen you guys here before, you all new?"

The five of us looked up to see a tall youth coming towards our table. We all stared, not used to seeing such. . . loud attire. Sitting on top of his long, green hair was a bright red beret with several paint spots on it. He wore a purple shirt with a white vest that was also littered with paint speckles, though the shirt was spotless. His baggy jean shorts were cut-offs, his canvas high tops covered in so much paint it was impossible to tell what their original color was.

Enthusiastically, the boy held his hand out to Ryo. "My name's Kojiro, who are you guys?"

Ryo shook Kojiro' s hand. "My name is Ryo, this is Rowen, that's Sage, and those two over there are Kento and Cye," he introduced. We took turns shaking hands with the newcomer before he sat down with his lunch tray. "How long have you been taking classes at Han A' High?"

"Since my freshman year," he said. "I'm a junior now, though."

"Same as me and Ryo," said Rowen. "Can I see your schedule?"

"Sure!" said Kojiro, digging into his pocket. He handed Rowen a folded piece of paper that was littered with some rather unflattering portraits of some of the teachers. "Ignore my doodles. I got bored during some of the lectures."

"You and I speak the same language," said Ryo. He eyed Kojiro. "Hey, you're in my math class!"

Kojiro looked at Ryo, then laughed. "Oh yeah! You're the guy that the class pet decided to visit. That was a riot!" he said, laughing. Ryo blushed, getting embarrassed. The other four Ronins turned to our "fearless leader" (he hates it when we call him that, which gives us all the more reason to do it) in interest.

"C'mon, Ryo, tell us about you and the small animal," said Kento.

"It was this. . . huge. . . rat!" said Ryo. He shook. "It got out of its cage and crawled up the inside of my pants. THEN it decided the crotch of my pants was a good place to take a nap. I had to take my jeans off in front of a bunch of girls to get the damn thing out!"

The rest of us burst out laughing, Kento near tears he was laughing so hard. Rowen had fallen out of his seat and struggling to get back up. Sage was shaking his head, looking up at the ceiling. I was chuckling to myself, trying not to make too much of a disruption. Ryo shot Kojiro a look, who just shrugged.

"It happens. I got tied up by a boa constrictor last year in my science class," he said.

"I think I have your teacher," said Sage, looking thoughtful. "He was telling us about an incident similar to that. Supposedly it took three teachers two hours to untie the poor kid." He folded his arms and tossed his head to the side, causing his hair to move temporarily out of place. "Was that really you?"

"Yeah, that was me. I was famous!" he said. "So, where are you all from?"

"I'm originally from Beijing, China," said Kento. Kojiro nodded, sounding interested in what learning more about the Chinese member of our Mutant Boy Scout Troop. "We moved to Japan when I was four, though, so I've basically grown up here. Hey, ever been to the Golden Dragon in Shinzuki?"

Our new acquaintance sighed happily at the mention of Kento's family restaurant. "Just once. To be blunt, it was like I died and went to heaven," said Kojiro, rubbing his stomach. "It was so good. I can still taste the lo mein, even now. . . why do you ask?"

Kento grinned. "I'll send your compliments to my mom," he said. Kojiro went white and gasped. The bearer of Hardrock just continued to grin and leaned back into his chair, looking pleased with himself.

"Cye here's from England," said Rowen. "Just like the Beatles, Winston Churchill, and James Bond.

Kojiro turned his attention to me. "England, eh? Seen Big Ben? Rode one of those double-decker tour busses? Watched Monty Python marathons? Met the queen?" he asked.

"No, but I've seen her in parades before," I said. "My mother was in the crowd after Princess Diana and Prince Charles' wedding. And we drove past Buckingham Palace on a field trip once. Right during the changing of the guard, too. One of my classmates chucked a soda can at one of the guards and knocked his hat off. I think he's STILL grounded, and I was in third grade when that happened."

"Cool," said Kojiro. "The rest of you?"

"Down south," said Sage. "My grandfather owns a dojo. We're one of the best in the country at competitions."

"Sage can sit still for three days if he wanted to," said Kento. "They practice the art of doing jack squat." Sage shot Kento a look that would have killed my best friend if looks were capable of taking lives. It's probably a good thing for Kento that they can't.

"For your information I've placed first in the national tournament three years running and as high as second in the **_INTERNATIONAL _**kendo competitions!" said Sage, looking a little angrier than the rest of us had ever seen him before. He leaned in towards Kento, breathing down his neck. Hardrock gulped and Halo sat back down, calming down so quickly it was as if nothing had disturbed him.

"My parents are divorced, and because of my mom's job, my dad got custody when they split. My dad and I lived twenty miles south of Tokyo. He's a scientist," said Rowen. "He LOVES chemistry and wants me to follow in his footsteps someday. But I live with these guys, now."

"Toyama orphanage," said Ryo. Kojiro went silent. The Toyama Orphanage was a fate worse than death to any child who lost their parents. The owner of the orphanage was very abusive and treated the orphans very poorly. The police had been trying to can her for years, but they had yet to get some solid evidence against her. Ryo had run away after receiving his armor to train with White Blaze, who he'd been seeing for years without his caretaker knowing. Now he lives with us and he's a whole lot happier. "It's okay. Really. It doesn't bother me that much. I'm out of there, but everyone else. . ."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Kojiro. He cleared his throat. "So, anyone see that red headed fox in the hallways today?"

Rowen nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I'm surprised she hasn't gotten busted for what she's wearing!"

"What red headed fox?" asked Kento.

"There's this really, really hot girl in school," said Ryo. "She's gut bushy red hair, gorgeous emerald green eyes, and a little teeny waist with wide hips and these voluptuous breasts you only SEE in Animé. Her legs. . . oh. . . what I would give to have a chance at just carrying her books."

"What's she wearing?" I asked in response to Rowen's statement. "Why would it get her in trouble?"  
"Tight white T-shirt and a little black mini skirt. Platform high heels. Teeny little butterfly barrettes. I'm telling you, every guy in this school is going to be after a piece of her this year," said Kojiro. He had a dreamy look in his pale blue eyes, sighing heavily. "I don't know what her name is, but I'd like it with a phone number."

Sage craned his neck, his eyes widening. "I think I see her. . ."

The remaining five of us lost a battle with our hormones and turned to look and see. Sure enough, the girl that Ryo and Kojiro had described was walking down the middle of the cafeteria, swaying her hips as she went. Every other boy in school was looking her way, most with food hanging out of their mouths or fighting with others to get a glimpse at her. A few other girls had disgusted looks on their faces as presumable boyfriends watched the young woman with great interest.

Best of all, she was headed towards OUR table.

My heart stopped when the girl sat at the empty space beside me. Our table went silent, all eyes on the newcomer. She flipped her hair back and looked at us all with this cute little pout. "Well. . . aren't you boys going to introduce yourselves me, or do you want to me go and sit somewhere else?"

"I'm Ryo!"

"My name is Rowen!"

"I'm Kento, but you can call me yours!"

"I'm Kojiro, and you can call me ANYTHING YOU WANT!"

"My name is Sage Date, pleased to meet you." (No, I have no idea how he kept his cool).

The girl turned to me. I had been too tongue tied and couldn't think of anything to say (or at least, nothing as creative as what Kento and Kojiro came up with anyways). "Well? What's YOUR name?" she asked, placing her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm as she stared at me with interest.

_What! What was she asking! What the hell was my name again! GYAH! Bloody hell! If I don't come up with something fast I'm going to look like a bloody idiot! Think, think, think. . . what did Mia yell at you this morning? Think, think, name, name. . . Oh yeah! Cye! Yes, Cye, that's it! That's my name! Cye! My name is Cye! Cye Mouri! _"C, Cye. . ." I said.

The girl giggled. "You're funny. My name's Sheila. Sheila McConner," she said. Sheila ran her eyes up and down me. I swear, Kento and Rowen looked devastated. This new girl was interested in me. I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ear. I felt little beads of sweat dripping down the side of my forehead. "What part of the world are you from?"

"En, England," I said. "Liver, Liverpool. Home, home of the Beat, Beatles." I tried to smile. I chuckled uneasily. _She must think I'm a complete idiot. . ._ I thought to myself. _Look at me! I'm acting like a twelve year old school girl about to meet one of the Backstreet Boys!_

"Fascinating. I'm from Dublin, Ireland," she said in a beautiful Irish accent. "I told my parents I wanted to see the world and they've sent me here to Japan. I'm an exchange student."

"So am I," I responded in English.

"Then you'll have to show me around town then, won't you?" she said. The others (minus Sage, who's a little too mature for his own age) all whimpered. Sheila ignored them as she started a conversation with me.

The two of us talked about what our home lives were like, how long we'd be staying in Japan (she was only staying for a year, I was staying through high school graduation), and some other small talk things. She laughed at some of my light jokes and didn't take her eyes off me for the remainder of lunch.

Well, for most of it, at least.

"So, Cye?" she asked. She took her eyes off me long enough to grab a notepad out of her purse. She scribbled something down, ripped the paper off, and slipped it down the front of my shirt. The bell that ended lunch rang and the other began to pack up to head to their next class. Sheila winked at me as she stood up. "Call me."

I threw my backpack over my shoulder and looked at the paper she'd given me. In neat, perfect penmanship, were the most prized digits in the entire school as well as a personal message that made my heart sore right out of my chest as I read it.

_You're cute._


	3. The Item

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Two: The Item

I got home as fast as I could that afternoon, leaving the others in the dust. Once the realization that an exceptionally hot girl had shown interest in me hit, I was estatic. I HAD to call her. I HAD to ask her out. Opportunities like that didn't come up everyday! If I was going to have a chance with this girl, I had to act before someone else took the chance.

Once I was home, I saw that I'd beaten the others home. Good. Being home alone would make the phone call all that much easier. I sat down on the couch in the living room, taking in a deep breath. I closed my eyes, trying to relax. I had to act maturely and responsibly, or else I would have blown this chance of a lifetime.

I picked up the phone by the couch and pulled out Sheila's number (which had been relocated to my pocket). I studied the number and began to dial. As soon as the last number was put into the phone, I waited patiently in hopes that Sheila would answer. I bit the bottom of my lip and started to drum my fingers on my thigh.

Three rings later, I heard a slight click and a voice on the other end. "Moshi, moshi?" the voice responded. Judging what I remembered of Sheila, I concluded it wasn't her. Too old, but it was still a female. Must have been a member of her host family, probably her host-mother.

"Is Sheila there?" I asked.

The voice on the other end was silent. "A boy already? She's here a month and she already has a gentleman caller?"

I blushed. "She gave me her number and I thought it would polite to call her," I said. The woman on the other end chuckled and called for Sheila. She then asked for my name and I gave it, explaining that Sheila and I had talked at lunch.

The phone was handed off and I heard Sheila on the other end. "Hi, Cye, I didn't think you'd call so soon," she said.

"It's not proper to leave a lady hanging," I said. Sheila giggled. Now, what to say to her? I had to come up with something or else she'd hang up on me. "So. . . what's new?"

"Oh, you're so sweet!" she said. "Asking what's new when the last time I saw you was just a few hours ago!" Sheila sighed happily on the other end. "Well, I spent the last few hours of school thinking about you."

"You, you did?" I asked, a little surprised. "Me? You were thinking about me? But why me?"

"Yes you, silly- how could I forget about a cutie like you?" she said, giggling. "Hmm. . . tell you what, Cye. Why don't you meet me this Friday night somewhere? Just the two of us. Maybe catch a movie."

My eyes widened in slight shock. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"If you want to call it that," she said. "Where do you want to go?"

I had to think about that one. What was a good place to go when you had a girl as good looking as Sheila with you? "Well. . . there's a nice pizza place downtown. . ." I said.

"Sounds great!" she said. "I'll see you then!"

"Okay," I said. "Eight o'clock?"

"Sounds good to me," said Sheila. "Bye, Cye." With that, she hung up, and I jumped for joy.

I had a date with hottest girl in school!

Friday night came. I flew through my homework and almost immediately began to dig though my closet. I had to find something PERFECT.

"Hey, Cye what are you- HEY! Watch where you're throwing that belt!" I looked up to see Rowen standing in the doorway of the room Kento and I shared. The bearer of Strata now sported a small red welt on his forehead.

"Sorry, Rowen," I said. I sat down the pile of clothing I'd assembled. "I've just never been on a date before."

"You haven't?" asked Rowen, raising an eyebrow.

"No," I said. I sighed heavily. "It figures that I can fight off an evil Dynasty but I can't figure out what to wear on a hot date!"

"You acted on Sheila's phone number?" he said.

I looked over at him. "How stupid do you think I am!"

"Point taken," said Rowen. He knelt down beside me. "Want help?"  
"Please," I said. "I'm not sure what to wear."

"Well, that all depends on the message you want to convey to her," said Rowen. He picked up a silky black shirt with a high collar and low neck line. "This makes you look like a stud and you're interested in sleeping with her."

I shook my head. "No, I don't want to do that."

Rowen raised a curious eyebrow. "Really? I'm surprised. I mean, she's hot. Every guy in school is going to want to have a go at her."

"I'd like to go out with her and have a relationship with her, but. . . I don't think I'm ready to be having sex yet, if that's what you're getting at," I said. "I don't believe in premarital intercourse."

"Ah, I get it," he said. He smiled, placing a hand on my shoulder. "That is a very mature and well thought out decision."

"What are your feelings on it," I asked.

Rowen laughed. "Too late. I had a little too much sake at a party one night and woke up naked with five cheerleaders," he said. "I'm damn lucky that none of them got pregnant and the worst STD I got was-"

"You got an STD?" I asked.

Rowen shrugged. "It wasn't HIV or herpes or something dangerous like that. It was one of those no big whoop ones that if you catch it early enough it's a piece of cake to cure," he said. "Though I will admit that I haven't gone near another drink since then. Despite the fact it was cured easily enough, it wasn't a picnic. My parents were ready to kill me, though it was nice to see them agree on something for once, even if it was after I did something stupid."

"Do you regret that night?" I asked.

Rowen nodded. "Yes. If I could do it all again. . . well, all that wouldn't have happened. I can't guarantee you that I wouldn't have done it some other time, but I wouldn't have done it like that." He cleared his throat. "But since you don't want to do anything like that, let's find something that says I'm interested, but not in THAT way."

"Okay," I said. "And pants?"  
"Yes," said Rowen, tossing me a blue button-up shirt I owned. "Probably just a pair of jeans will do. It's the first date, and it's to a pizza place, so you shouldn't show up in a tuxedo."

I smiled, getting out of the old T-shirt I was wearing and putting on the jersey. "Thanks, Rowen," I said. "I needed that."

"Not a problem," he said. "What are friends for?"

I smiled, looking at the time. Then, I frowned. It was getting late, and I was due to meet her at eight (though since she WAS a woman she'd probably be fashionably late, anyways). "I'd better get going," I said.

"Good luck, Cye!" said Rowen, giving me a thumbs up.

"Yeah, go and get her, slugger!" Rowen and I looked over to see Ryo and Kento were both looking into the room, smiling like a couple of fools. Kento had made the comment.

"If you guys keep on acting like that than you'll NEVER get girlfriends," I said.

Ryo and Kento exchanged looks, seeming to visually discuss this. The two nodded at each other and took off, probably to decide if what I'd said held any truth. Rowen shook his head and I left the room.

"Have fun," said Sage as I passed him in the living room.

"Thank you," I said. I grabbed my jacket, waved at my blonde friend, and left.

I found out that, strangely enough, I arrived at precisely eight of clock. Literally. The clock at the pizza parlor struck eight just as I stepped into the door. I grinned at myself, proud of being so punctual.

I took a seat at one of the tables and looked at the overhanging menu, trying to decide what kind of pizza I wanted. I looked over the toppings and thought about several combinations, wondering which ones Sheila might like.

Sheila's arrival was announced by several of the young men in the pizza parlor suddenly stopping what they were doing. I turned my attention to the door and saw that my date was wearing a small black dress with a pink scarf tied around her neck, wearing the same shoes she'd worn when we first met. I gulped, amazed at how dressed up she was. Sheila looked over at me, smiled, and walked over, sliding into the seat across from me. "Hey, Cye. Nice outfit."

"Thanks," I said. I looked up at the menu. "Any idea what you'd like to order?"

"Just cheese," she said. "I'm not big on toppings."

"Cheese it is," I said, mentally reminding myself that the pepper and onion was a lot more tempting (despite the lethal breath I'd get afterwards). I stood up to go and place the order, but Sheila stopped me.

"I'll go and get it," she said. "I brought money."

"I did, too," I said.

Sheila smiled. "That's okay," she said. "I'll handle it." With that, she stood up and walked up to the counter. A few minutes later, she returned with a medium cheese pizza, and I wondered how in the world the two of us would manage to finish it.

"Looks good," I said. The smells of tomato, cheese, and the herbs and spices on the pizza were teasing my nostrils. My stomach rumbled, demanding some of the food be placed into it. "Smells good, too."

"Yeah, I'm starving!" she said, licking her lips and rubbing her stomach. "Let's dig in already!"

That was the first of several dates. Sheila and I had a good time that night, catching a late movie after finishing our pizza. We'd had some nice discussions, watched a great film, and sat in the park to watch the stars for a little while.

During our relationship, I only found one this unusual. Sheila refused to let me pay for anything. She wouldn't accept flowers or candy from me, chose most of our dates, and, at the first school dance ( it was in late October), led ME instead of me leading her. I wasn't sure if she just didn't like tradition or felt that since she was older and had a few relationships under her belt that she should take the dominant role until I got the hand of it.

After the first week or so and people began to realize we were an "item", I was suddenly the center of attention, though not all of it positive. About half of the male population at our school minus my friends, teachers, and homosexuals were jealous of me. After all, Sheila was a grade ahead of me- junior girls just didn't date sophomore boys. It was like we were breaking some law of physics.

One of the ones who didn't hate me was Kojiro, the guy that we'd met on the first day of school. He was a sophomore like Ryo, Rowen, and Sheila, but the two of us somehow ended up in the same art class.

That was something that puzzled me. Kojiro should have by all means been in a more advanced art class than I was. I could barely draw a stick figure. Kojiro, on the other hand, was getting commissions to portraits of some of the staff and students. He was GOOD. He was VERY GOOD. We were assigned to work together on a rather large project (some sort of a small mural) and the two of us got to know each other.

"How is it that you're in this level of art and not a more advanced level?" I said, pointing at the part he was working on (some sort of a bird, I think).

"I wanted to get required stuff, like P.E. and computers out of the way, first," said Kojiro. "I'm taking all art courses outside of my main subjects this year. I'm going to be an artist if it kills me." He added some more detail to his drawing, shook his head, and erased it. "It's a gift, I tell you. I draw all the time."

"What kind of an artist do you want to be?" I asked, frowning at my pathetic attempt at a bear.

"Probably an illustrator," he said. "I like kids."

"You do?" I said.

"Yeah, I always wanted a little brother or sister, but I never got one. My parents stopped after they had me," he said. Kojiro sighed heavily, looking over the picture again. His mind seemed to be on something else, though. "Actually, that might be my back-up plan if I don't make it. Day care. Little kids like to paint and it'll pay the bills, you know?"

I almost laughed at the thought. Sure, Kojiro was a very nice guy and all, but it's never easy to picture a man running a day care center. "You would be awesome at teaching the children to draw," I quipped. "If you have the patience for it."

"Yes, my little Rembrats," he said. Kojiro snorted. "The Rembrat School of Early Art. They'll all grow up and beat the snot out of Van Go, Da Vinci, and hell, maybe even Rembrant himself! I'm telling you Cye, they'll be artistic geniuses! Prodigies! All thanks to me. Think I can do it?"

I laughed. "Yeah, right, Kojiro. Little kids don't have the motor skills to create works of art. You'll have to be happy with poorly colored coloring book pages. There's just no way there's enough kids with that much raw talent for you to base an entire day care off of."

"Not if I teach them!" he said. "They can recreate the Mona Lisa with macaroni, for starters. I'll have a big cardboard outline of it, we can dye all the noodles, and start gluing them on. It'll be a big, sticky mess for them to enjoy. Little kids LOVE glue and dried pasta. I'll be a hit!"

"I'm sure you will, Kojiro," I said. "You've got the kind of personality that works well with small children."

"Really?" he said. I nodded. "Well, I guess I am-"

"Mouri. . . Tomae. . ."

Kojiro and I exchanged looks, gulped, and went back to work again. We'd gotten so caught up in our conversation that we'd stopped working and it was time to start getting more done before the teacher (who was a real shrew) got on our case again.

"I saw we make sure that the water buffalo's rear has a startling resemblance to her, what do you say?" Kojiro whispered. I snickered, thinking the idea was grand. "Of course it shouldn't be TOO obvious, or else we'll fail the project."

"Ah, good point."


	4. November Night

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: November Night

For a few months, things between Sheila and me were going great. I was getting used to the idea of her running the show. Maybe a bit TOO used to it. It was almost getting to the point where she was treating me as an inferior, which I didn't like. I was starting to feel uncomfortable and it was high time I had a discussion with my girlfriend.

It was during the middle of November that I decided we should have the discussion. Sheila had invited me to her host family's home to watch some movies. Just a quiet evening at home. Deciding I was going to take action for once, I filled a brown paper bag with some movies, microwave popcorn, and some candy that I had found in our room (Kento would forgive me eventually for getting into his secret stash).

"Busy little bee, aren't you?" said Sage. I looked up to see the Warrior of Wisdom had taken a seat on Kento's bed. "What's in the bag?"

"Movie stuff," I said, hauling it onto my bed. As an afterthought, I went to my dresser and started to look for something.

"Armor orbe?" asked Sage. I shook my head. "No?"

"I'm just going to Sheila's," I said. "Besides, we haven't heard from the Dynasty in a few months. One night without my armor orbe won't let the universe crumble. And if something does come up, go get me and bring my armor orbe. She'll understand." I sighed heavily. "IF she'll let me go. Sheila's getting a bit TOO dominant in our relationship and I want to step up."

"What's wrong with her being dominant?" asked Sage. "You know that she's older than you- she's one year your senior. Plus, she is your first girlfriend, and you certainly can't be her first boyfriend. She probably thinks she has a better idea on how to handle a relationship."

"She's starting to treat me like a little kid," I said. I held up what I was looking for. It was a gold chain with a small, golden cross dangling on it. It had been a gift from my grandmother when I was small and it meant a lot to me. I hadn't worn it in a long time, and I got a sudden impulse to put it on. "I haven't paid for a damn thing since we started dating, and I guess. . . it just doesn't feel right."

"What are you planning on doing about it?" asked Sage.

"Talking to her, what else?" I said. "I just need to tell her to let off a little bit, that's all."

Sage shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Hey, do you know where Kento is?"

I blinked. "No, actually, I don't."

"Oh. He borrowed one of my CDs a few weeks ago and still hasn't given it back to me," he said.

I saw a CD case lying on Kento's dresser. "This it?" I asked, holding it up. Sage nodded enthusiastically, smiling as he took it.

"Thanks," he said.

"Not a problem," I said, picking my bag up again. "Enjoy your CD."

"Enjoy your date," he said. With that, Sage left the room and I headed downstairs to walk to Sheila's.

Sheila was staying in a quiet suburban neighborhood that has that warm, friendly feel to it. Like no harm can ever occur there. I walked up the familiar stone walkway to the mint green house and raised an arm to knock. As I was about to make contact with the wood, however, the door opened, revealing Sheila. "Hello, Cye," she said.

"Uh, hello?" I said, looking Sheila over. The redheaded girl, to my surprise and shock, was wearing a very, very revealing little black dress with spaghetti straps and a very, very low cut that exposed most of her breasts. She wore some make-up that made her look a lot like the models you see in magazine.

Somehow I got a bad feeling about it.

"What's in the bag?" she asked.

Trying to ignore her attire, I smiled as I held up the bag. "Some movies, popcorn, and candy," I said. Sheila stepped back so I could step in, but she had a strangely disappointed look on her face. I blinked in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said. "Just put the bag down by the door. We've got popcorn somewhere around her." Her voice was strange cold and void of emotion, sending a slight shiver up my spine. Sheila was acting strange. But why?

Sheila led me out to the living room, where the couch sat in front of the television. "Have a seat," she said. "I forgot to get something."

"But I-" I started, but Sheila left. I sat down, frowning. I moved one hand up to my necklace, fingering the cross. I had a strange feeling about that night. Something wasn't right.

Sheila came back with a very juicy looking fruit salad bowl. "You do like strawberries, right?" she said. She stumbled slightly. "Oh, sorry, I'm just a little off balance tonight."

"Let me help you with that," I said, getting up to assist her. "Why did you get such a big bowl of this prepared?"

"Well, I- CYE! WATCH OUT!" Sheila cried as the bowl flew forehead and stained the front of my shirt and jeans with bright red juice. The plastic bowl bounced on the hard wood floor, spinning to a stop. "Oh, Cye, I'm SOOO sorry about that, I'm such a klutz I-"

"It's all right," I said. "It's only a shirt. It can be washed." I looked down to see that my formerly white shirt was now sporting a rather large purple blob. "Do you have something that can get this out?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. She sighed heavily. "Tell you what. Fruit juice is sticky, so why don't you hop in the shower while I get your clothes cleaned up."

I blinked. "Take a shower?"

"It must've soaked through to your skin," she said. I nodded, feeling wet against my torso. "It'll probably take a while, but I can get you a towel or something until they're clean."

"Okay," I said. "Just tell me where the bathroom is."

"Upstairs, third door on your left," she said. "There should be extra towels in the linen closet."

"Thank you," I said, walking upstairs. "Are you sure you don't-"

"I can take care of it," she said. "Go get yourself cleaned up!"

It felt a little weird taking a shower at Sheila's. I felt vulnerable as the hot water washed the fruit juices off my body. Maybe it was the lack of clothing. Maybe, even more so, the lack of my armor orbe. I felt even more naked than I already was without it.

Satisfied that I was clean, I stepped out of the shower and started to towel dry myself off. I was going to have to ask Sheila for some sort of a pair of pants, since a towel didn't seem like appropriate attire. But until I got some, then I would have to do with the large piece or terry cloth. Finding a nice, big, fluffy one, I stepped out of the bathroom, holding it tight around my waist.

Looking to my left, I saw Sheila standing outside the bathroom door wearing a small, pink bathrobe. "Um, why are you wearing a bathrobe?" I asked. Then, I rolled my eyes. "I get it. You got some of that fruit salad on your dress and now you need to take a shower, too."

"Nope," she said, walking up to me. She cupped my face in her hands as she softly, passionately kissed me. "I've been waiting for this."

"Waiting for what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Before I could protest, Sheila grabbed one of my hands and pulled me into another room. This room, I noticed, was a bedroom. "Sheila!"

"Like my room?" she said. I looked around, deciding that she'd chosen some strange moment to show me her room. It had pale blue walls, a few book shelves, white carpet, and green sheets.

"Very nice, now what's-" Sheila kissed me again before I could finish. I blinked in surprise, wondering what she was doing. Then, it slowly dawned on me just what Sheila wanted.

She wanted us to have sex.

I held my hand up. "Look, Sheila, I love you, but. . . not now."

Sheila pouted. "What do you mean?"

"I want to wait until I'm married before I, well, go to bed with a woman," I said. I let one of my hands wander back to my necklace. "I didn't come to Japan to sleep around. I came her to get an education that would look god on a job application and see the world. I'm a virgin, and I'd like my wife to have my virginity on our wedding night."

"Oh, don't be silly, Cye, it's not that big a deal," she said, laughing. "It's fun! Trust me, you'll enjoy it."

I shook my head. I was going to stand my ground about this one. "No, Sheila," I said. "I'm not going to sleep with you. I'm only fifteen anyways. I have a good reputation, high morals, and a clean record. I don't want to ruin that, so, I'm sorry. You're just going to have to accept me on a less intimate level."

From there, it got ugly. Sheila's once pretty face mutated into a frightening scowl. She reached up and slapped me hard across the face. I stumbled backwards. I looked up at her in surprise. The side of my face she'd struck stung badly and I was beginning to get frightened. "So, I'm not GOOD enough for you, am I?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked in alarm as I tried to recover from the slap. "Sheila, what makes you think that just because I don't want to sleep with you I don't like you? We had a good relationship before you got this idea in your head!"

"You must think I'm not worthy of you, do you?" she said, shoving me hard. I landed with my back against her bed. She pounced on top of me.

"Sheila, stop it!" I cried out. Sheila began to slap me senseless, at one point busting my lip. The salty taste of my own blood shocked me. She was hurting me. "Sheila, please, this is nonsense, I-"

"I'm going to show you that you aren't worthy of ME, you filthy little maggot!" she screamed. "You're going to learn that NO ONE turns down Sheila McConner. Not even you, Cye. Not even you." Sheila looked down at me with a sick look of desire on her face. She fingered my cross. She snarled, ripped it off my neck, and threw it against the wall of her bedroom.

It clattered to the floor, the chain broken. The gold links had broken only in one place, but it would never be the same again. The cross that once dangled from the chain sat motionless on the floor. A symbol of my lost innocence, youth, and dignity.

I still don't know quite how she managed to do it. Sheila overpowered me that night. I struggled trying to kick and scream for help. Maybe her host family would come home or something. Maybe one of the guys had decided that me leaving my armor orbe behind was a stupid idea.

But no help came. After beating me to the point of hardly being able to move, she tied me to the bed. After toying with me for a while, she raped me. It wasn't fun. It wasn't pleasant. And Sheila was laughing at me, taunting me with names like "good little boy" and "virgin".

To add insult to injury, Sheila continued to abuse me throughout the act. She's always had long, kind of sharp fingernails. Those fingernails against my bare backside? Those scars lasted for YEARS. My blood soaked the sheets of the bed. I was crying out, begging for mercy, only to have Sheila start pounding me.

After a while, Sheila fell asleep. I laid there for a while, crying softly to myself. I didn't want to wake her up- she'd just start raping and beating me again. I stared up the ceiling, wondering how this had happened. Why this had happened. Men weren't supposed to be raped by women- other men, sure, I'd heard stories about it, but not a woman! I had been born a boy, was a young man, and will die a man- shouldn't I have been able to defend myself against her?

_I've got to get out of here before. . . no! Don't think like that,_ I thought to myself. What was going to happen now? Was she planning something else? _Oh God, please, no more. . ._

I looked "up" at the scarves that Sheila had used to tie me to her bed. Seeing that they were a little slippery, I decided to try and get out. I cracked a slight grin as one of my wrists slid out of the binding, followed shortly by the other. I rubbed my wrists, seeing some slight chafing, but nothing too serious. Looking at Sheila in disgust, I slid out of the bed, my arms wrapped tightly around my chest.

_How could she do this to me? _I thought to myself. I looked down. My entire body was covered in blood, some of Sheila's bodily fluids, and my own semen. That last one bothered me. Why had THAT happened? Why, out of all the ways my body could have reacted to the rape, had I. . . how did she manage to make me. . . I shook, frightened. Grabbing the towel I'd worn into the room, I wrapped it around my waist and went over to the door. Through the moonlight, I just barely saw my cross lying in the carpet. I knelt down, picked it up, and felt tears begin to streak down my face. I closed my eyes as I held it to my chest.

Shakily, I opened the door and left the room, closing it quietly. Holding the towel close to me, I started to try and find my clothing. I had to get out of that house, and fast. After a (thankfully) short search, I found what I was looking for. I dressed quickly, wincing as my shirt came into contact with the raw skin on my back. After getting my shoes on, I made a bee line for the front door.

"Just where do you think you're going, maggot?"

I froze. I slowly turned around and saw Sheila standing a few feet from the front door, completely naked and looking extremely unhappy. "You wouldn't be leaving me, now, would you?"

I stared at her for a second, unsure of what to say. That, that. . . thing, had violated me in the worst possibly way. She'd stolen my virginity, taken a bite out of my dignity, and had all but destroyed my self esteem. "Why?" I asked.

Sheila snarled, slapping me again. "You little son of a bitch! No one, but NO ONE tells me NO!"

Deciding I didn't want to get raped again, I opened the front door and bolted through before she had a chance to react.

I didn't care where I was going.

I didn't care where I ended up.

I just wanted to get out of there.


	5. Secret

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Four: Secret

I wandered around hopelessly for a long time. My mind was functioning correctly. All I could think about was what had happened. The scenes kept playing over and over in my head like a broken record player.

_"You like this, Cye? Do you ENJOY me!"_

"Sheila. . . please. . . STOP!"

I clutched myself, disgusted with myself and what had happened. Was that all I was good for now that the Dynasty had been defeated? Sheila's play toy? Was I really that. . . worthless? Is this what my destiny was doing to me now?

_"That's it, cry little virgin. . . oh, I'm sorry, that isn't valid anymore, is it?"_

I bit my lip to fight another onslaught of tears. I tried telling myself it was all just a bad dream and my alarm clock would go off any second. Just a few more seconds and I'd wake up and be rid of the dream. No, not a dream. Nightmare. Yes, yes, I was having a nightmare.

I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. I didn't care where I was going. After all, if I WAS dreaming, then it wouldn't matter where I'd end up, since I'd just find myself in my room, curled up in my sheets, still a virgin, and without the pain of being raped.

BEEP! BEEP!

I looked up in time to see that I was standing the middle of the road, a tractor trailer headed straight for me. My feet froze in place- I couldn't move. I just stared, and I screamed as the bright white headlights of the vehicle took up my entire range of vision. I was going to die! After fighting a magic based war, being captured, being tortured, and now, being raped, I was going to die by means of getting run over by a truck? Oh, the irony!

"CYE!"

I felt something smack me in the side and shove me onto a patch of grass a few feet away from where the pavement ended. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily as more tears streamed down my face. My chest felt heavier than it should have. Someone was on top of me. Sheila. Sheila was going to, to. . .

I felt my shoulders being shook and opened my eyes. I saw a blurry figure with spots of green and red. Green and red. . . like Sheila. . . I thrashed out, desperate to get her away from me. Sheila was screaming at me, but somehow, her voice was. . . deeper. Stranger, yet more familiar.

I blinked a few times to see that instead of my rapist girlfriend sitting on top of me, it was Kojiro. "Cye!" he screamed. His ice blue eyes were wide with fear and concern for my well being. My lips quivered as I looked up at him. I'd tried to hurt him. And here he'd just saved my life. "Cye, what the hell happened to you?"

I couldn't answer. I broke down again, crying hysterically. Kojiro crawled off me and sat me up, letting me cry into his shoulder. I continued to cry, frightened, scared, and not really having the will to go on. The last thing I wanted was for someone, anyone to see me as I was as I sat there crying. Kojiro looked at me, unsure of what to do. He reached out to hug me, but I recoiled, shaking me head no, my arms crossed over my chest. Kojiro blinked in surprise.

"Cye. . ."

I vaguely remember Kojiro walking me somewhere. I was too busy crying into his shoulder to care where we went. The full affect of what had happened finally hit me. Sheila- my own girlfriend- had raped and beaten me. I had lost a huge chunk of my self pride and my dignity.

"Make yourself at home, Cye," I heard Kojiro calmly say. I looked up long enough to see I was in a strange living room. Nothing too fancy, nothing too conventional, just a living room. You know, television, couch, chairs, coffee table, etc.? Even with my mind in disarray, I figured out that Kojiro must have taken me to his home.

Kojiro led me over a few steps to the staircase and walked me upstairs. Each step I took reminded me that Sheila's room had been a second story of a home, too. _No, this is Kojiro, NOT Sheila, K-O-J-I-R-O. He won't hurt you,_ I tried to reassure myself. God, why was everything reminding me of that. . . that witch?

My friend brought me into a brightly decorated room that must have been his room. The room was wallpapered in bright, vivid drawings of everything, ranging from animals to people to things that didn't even exist. Kojiro led me to an old, leg-less couch and sat me down. "Cye, what happened?"

I looked at Kojiro, tears still streaming from my eyes. "I, I don't want to talk about it," I said. I sniffled, curling myself into a ball, my arms wrapped around my knees. I started to rock myself, trying to console my aching, frightened being. I was appreciative that Kojiro had taken me inside, but right then. . . I didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Fat chance," said Kojiro, holding up his hand. I saw blood.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked.

"I touched your back, that's what! The back of your shirt is soaked in blood!" he said. "This is YOUR blood. Cye, something bad happened to you and I want to know what it is. You dare try to tell me something isn't wrong when I find you wandering around in the middle of the street with a bloody back- no offense to your heritage- and crying your eyes out? Cye, please, talk to me. If you don't want me to tell anyone else, I won't. But I'm worried about you, dude."

I sniffled again, getting scared. "You'd laugh at me."

"LAUGH AT YOU?" said Kojiro. He stood up and started to yell. "Cye, someone just put you through some serious shit- uh, pardon my French- and you think I'm going to LAUGH at you!" He took in a few deep breaths as I shrunk back into the couch. I started to cry again, not liking the tone he was using with me. Kojiro sat down and hugged me. "Please. . . talk to me. . ."

I buried my face into his shoulder and quietly said what had happened. My voice was a raspy whisper, so low and hushed that my friend couldn't have possibly heard it. Kojiro blinked, not hearing me. He cocked his head to one side, looking for the answer. "I don't want to say it again," I said.

"Cye, I can't help you if you don't speak up," he said.

I bit my lip. "Sheila. . . she. . . she. . ."

"Did she break up with you?" asked Kojiro.

I shook my head. "No. . . if she only had. . ."

"What did she do to you, Cye?" asked Kojiro. "Just say it. Swallow hard, and say it."

I bit my lip, closing my eyes. "Sheila. . . she raped me."

The room went dead silent. _Oh no. . . he thinks I'm some sort of a wimp now. . ._

Kojiro was staring at me blankly. "She. . . she what?"

"She raped me, okay?" I said, loosing control. I stood up, waving my arms around. "She dumped some fruit stuff on me and it was really messy and I had to get cleaned up, so she told me to take a shower. I did, and then she decided that she wanted us to have sex, but I said no, and she forced me to do it!" I fell to my knees, crying into my hands. "I'm worthless, Kojiro. Don't you see? She sees me as some sort of a worthless whore and used me like one."

I was surprised to see Kojiro down at my side, hugging me. "It's okay, Cye. . . it's okay." He pushed my head down to his shoulder and started to gently rub the back of my neck. "If anyone is worthless, it's her, Cye. Trust me, you're anything but a whore and you never will be a whore."

More tears streamed down my cheeks as I listened to exactly what he was saying. "You. . . you don't think I'm. . ."

"No, of course not," said Kojiro. "Sheila did a God awful thing to you."

"You believe me? You actually believe all this!" I said. He believed me. Kojiro actually believed me!

"You're hysterical and you're hurt- one of the worst basket cases I've ever seen in my entire life. If you'd told me you'd been abducted by aliens I would've believed you," said Kojiro. Then, he narrowed his eyes. "You want me to call the police?"

I shook my head. "No! Don't call the cops!"

"Why not?" asked Kojiro. "Rape is a CRIME. She can go to JAIL for raping you."

"One, they wouldn't believe me like you are. Two, no matter how much the police try to cover it up, people are going to raise questions and someone's going to find out eventually. I, I'd never hear the end of it! Even if she were to go to jail I'd just be taunted and teased for the rest of my days here. I, I don't want those memories in addition to what's already happened," I said.

"Okay, we don't tell the police," said Kojiro. "Your friends?"

"Never let me out of the house again without a chaperone," I said.

Kojiro sighed heavily. "Okay. We tell no one. But are you sure that's a good idea?"  
I nodded. "I, I can't go back to them," I said.

"Oh yes you can, Cye. You WILL go back to them. They'll get worried else wise. I won't force you to tell them what happened tonight, but you WILL go back to them," said Kojiro. He looked me over, then clicked her tongue. "But first, let's clean you up. You're a mess!"

"You haven't seen half of it," I said under my breath.

After letting me take a shower, Kojiro bandaged my back up after applying some stingy stuff that I didn't like. One of those sprays that the doctor uses that they tell you won't string but almost always does. "It's this or you get an infection. Your choice. If you get an infection, people will find out."

"Fine," I said. I then had to suffer another minute of the spray-can hell before my friend announced that I was done. I breathed a much needed sigh of relief and waited for Kojiro to completely finish the job- I still needed to be bandaged. Once Kojiro had wrapped up the majority of my torso in the long cloth bandages they use on athletes, he gave me an old T-shirt and a pair of shorts. "What are these for?"

"You're spending the night, aren't you?" he said. "The clothes you had on you are in the wash. Tomorrow you can change back into them for when you go home. Just tell your friends that you and Sheila got into a bad fight, so you went to spend the night at your good old buddy Kojiro's place."

I smiled. "Why are you being so understanding about all this?"

"Because you're a nice guy," he said. "You didn't deserve what you got."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"You're not a troublemaker, for one. You get along pretty well with everyone, and aside from the fact you were dating you-know-who, no one seemed to have anything against you," said Kojiro. He smiled. "Don't worry- everything's going to be okay."

"Thank you for everything you've done tonight," I said. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't stepped in."  
"I know what you would've done- died. You nearly got hit by that truck. Had you somehow managed to avoid it, you might've done something equally stupid," said Kojiro. "I'd tell you what they were, but I don't want to give you any ideas."

"I'm not suicidal," I said. "I, I want to live."

"Good boy," said Kojiro, patting my head. "Now, let's get a cot set up for you. I think my mom keeps them in the closet down the hall."

"Your mom? What about your dad?"  
"Died when I was like, five. Right now she's on her honeymoon with my new stepfather," said Kojiro. He sounded bitter as he spoke.

"You don't like your stepfather?" I said.

"I don't think he likes me, either. And like I DID anything to him!" said Kojiro. He sighed heavily, leaning up against a dresser. "But let's not dwell on my problems- you have some more dire ones."

"I understand how you feel," I said. "My father died before I was born, but my mother never remarried."

Kojiro looked at me in shock. "You never had a father figure?"

"Well, I did for a while. When I came over here from England, I lived with Kento's family for a few years," I said. "Still, I've always wondered. . ."

"I'm sure that wherever he is. . . he's watching you," said Kojiro.

I smiled at the thought. "Thank you, Kojiro."

"Not a problem."

Two weeks passed since the rape. I was trying to hide any clues or signs that it had happened. I refused to take my shirt off, I went a few meals without eating, and lost interest in cooking. I spent a lot more time in my room than I usually did, normally crying or looking out the window, wondering why it had happened.

Kojiro was working wonders to help me conceal it. After the first week, he took me out explaining we had to work on a project. In reality, he brought me to a teen health clinic. Once there, he told me that I should worry about STDs. If Sheila was willing to rape me, chances are she wasn't a virgin, and where I had no idea how many past partners she had, I could have been in serious trouble. He made it a habit to bring me there ever so often, since some diseases take longer to show up than others.

Turns out Kojiro had a good idea there. Sheila hadn't given me anything, which made me feel EXTREMELY lucky. I could've gotten some nasty diseases from what happened that I didn't want to try and deal with. How was I going to explain to one of the guys why I had medicine for some disease that's most commonly contracted sexually if I was supposed to be abstinent?

Back at school, Sheila was making things even harder.

"Hello, Cye."

I had been standing at my locker when I heard Sheila from over my shoulder. I froze, getting scared. "Y, yes?"

Sheila grabbed me collar seductively. "It's a Friday night, Cye. How about if you come over my house tonight?"

I didn't know WHAT to do. I knew what she had plans to do, but I was afraid to say no to her. What to do, what to do!

"Sorry, Sheila, Cye and I already have plans tonight, right Cye?" I looked up to see that Kojiro had come to my rescue. "Guy movie, right?"

"Right," I said, playing along. Sheila gave us both dirty looks, narrowed her eyes, and stomped off indignantly. I turned to Kojiro. "Thank you," I mouthed. Kojiro nodded.

"Just so she doesn't try anything stupid, meet me tonight at six over by the cinema. We'll at least FAKE going to a movie," he said. I nodded, happy about that arrangement. I got out of getting into MORE trouble, and, I got to catch a movie with my friend. There wasn't much more I could've asked for.

Two more weeks passed. My recovery was going more smoothly now, some of my breakdowns and unusual behaviors more controlled than they had been. Any suspicions my friends had were dying down, much to my relief.

But something else happened that no one expected.

One day, Sheila disappeared.

Well, it's not like she was a missing person, but she wasn't coming to school anymore. According to some of the older students, she'd been transferred to another school a few cities away. I breathed a sigh of relief- Sheila was gone from my life forever. I wouldn't have to worry about her for what seemed like forever. I could go on with my life like she'd never entered it. I was finally going to go back to normal.

Oh, how very wrong I was. . .


	6. Surprise, Surprise

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Five: Surprise, Surprise

Months passed since Sheila left the school. I was happy again for the first time in a long time. I felt free. I felt like a heavy burden had been suddenly lifted off my shoulders. I finally had time to just ENJOY being a teenager and not having to worry about evil demons or psychotic rapist girlfriends. Something I hadn't really gotten a chance to do in a very long time.

Only God knew it would be the last time I would be able to do that. . .

Kojiro started to hang out with us a lot, probably to check on me. He got along well with the other Ronins, though we didn't tell him about our "secret" (how was I going to explain to him that with all the demons I've trashed I couldn't overpower my own girlfriend?). He would be happier not knowing about it. After all, ignorance is bliss.

As soon as summer came, though, Kojiro just. . . left. He stopped coming over, there weren't any answers at his house when we called, and none of his other friends had seen hide nor hair of him. We all got worried, not having any idea what had happened. I went to his house once to find it eerily quiet.

I tried to not worry about it. Kojiro was stronger than he looked- he'd helped me during an awful time in my life. The green haired artist had a good heart and was stronger than one would think he'd be. But despite all of that, there were still small concerns on my part. What had happened to him? Had he moved away or gotten sick or something?

Somewhere around the eighteenth of the month, I woken up in the middle of the night was a strange sensation. I had immediately run towards the window, wondering if something was outside. I saw nothing and tried to settle down, but something deep inside me told me that something very, very important had just happened.

"Hey, Cye!"

I had been sitting in our room when Kento came in (it was a few days after the strange sensation had hit). He dove onto his bed, already in his pajamas. "Yes, Kento?" I asked. I was in my own night clothes, which were usually just a T-shirt and a pair of boxers. Before the rape, I would sleep in just my boxers, but ever since then, that's been hard to do. The long, red scratches Sheila had left on my back were still there and I didn't want the other to know about them. Hell, I never even took my shirt off at the beach or pool anymore.

"It's almost the end of July. You know what that means?" he asked.

I blinked. "We're in the middle of summer? School's been out for a little over a month? More trips to the beach? The days are getting hotter and sunnier and longer? It'll be AUGUST in a few days?" I asked. "What, Kento? What are you getting at? What is so significant about it being the end of July?"

Kento waved his hand in front of my face, looking a little exasperated. "Um, hello? One year anniversary? The BIG anniversary? Mystical armors? Dark Warlords? Ancient One? The Staff? Dynasty war? Kicking Talpa's tin can army?" he said. "You know, that little thing?"

My eyes widened in remembrance. "Oh yeah!" I said. I laughed, then sat back on my heels as I thought it over. One year ago we'd fought against the Dynasty, getting our butts kicked and somehow managing to live through it. "It's been a year already? Seems like it was just yesterday."

"Yup," said Kento. "Just another week. Ryo's going to try and get Kayura and the Warlords to come up for a celebration. We can catch up on how we've all been doing the past year, you know?"

"That does sound nice," I said. "What do you suppose we'll be talking about, though?"

"School, your little four month relationship with that hot ticket, you know, stuff," he said.

I went a little quiet after he mentioned Sheila. _No Cye, that's BEHIND you. Sheila is GONE. The rape is OVER. You did NOT contract any STDs from what happened. No one but you, Kojiro, Sheila and the Lord Himself know what happened that night, and no one else is going to find out. Not even Kento._

"Cye? Are you all right, dude?" he asked. A look of sudden worry had plastered my best friend's face as he asked the question. He knew that something was wrong and he wanted to know what was bothering me. _Kento, please, just let this secret lie with me, please. . ._

"I'm fine," I said, shaking the feeling off. "Just. . . thinking, that's all."

Kento smiled. "This summer has been GREAT so far. Nothing but food, fun, and sun!" he said cheerily. Then, he sighed in a mock depression. "A few cute girls in some little string bikinis probably wouldn't hurt too much, but hey, we're doing okay, right? I mean, we're having a great time."

"Right," I said. "You don't need girls to have FUN."

Kento raised an eyebrow. "You're not suggesting that you're GAY, are you?"

I stared at him through narrowed eyes. "No!"

Kento let out a loud belly laugh. "I'm only teasing you, Cye. We all know you need to be roughed up once in a while," he said. He placed one hand on his hip and began to give an invisible body (supposed to be me) a noogie, sending me a warning grin as he continued to mime.

"Just like you need to be roughed up, Kento?" I said, deciding to test my limits. Kento took on a look of surprise and dislike, causing me to laugh. "You know, Kento, in all the years I've known you, and all the crap that's been thrown at us, you haven't changed a bit."

"Oh, I believe you're very wrong," said Kento. "I learned my lesson that time Talpa captured us. I kept seeing that just rushing into battle only lead to harm, but. . . it took the capture to teach me just how dangerous it was. It didn't hit me until after the war was over, but you, Sage and I know exactly what I'm talking about, right?"

I nodded in remembering. Countless nightmares, flashbacks, and breakdowns had consumed us the week following Talpa's final defeat. It took a LOT of patience and hard work to get the three of us in good enough condition to go to school. We still had the occasional problem with the ordeal, but had been getting more and more steadily under control. By that summer, it was just a bad memory.

"Well. . . it's getting late," said Kento, crawling under the covers of his bed. He sighed happily, placing his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He looked over at me, smiling brightly. "G'night, Cye. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, and remember-if you die before you wake, I get your stereo."

I laughed, recalling Kento's old joke (which usually didn't make sense since I didn't OWN a stereo system) "Good night, Kento," I said. I got into my own bed, closed my eyes, and fell asleep, unaware that it would be the last night I would spend in it for a very, very long while.

The following day went as well as any other day could've gone. We spent the day at home, just kind of lounging, sunning on the roof, and training. It was a typical summer day for us all. We were just being (somewhat) normal teenagers. Teenagers without any responsibilities other than protecting the Mortal Realm if something attacked it (which, at the time, nothing WAS attacking it). Teenagers who had time to play, horse-around, and just generally have fun.

For one of us, that comfortable peace would end very soon.

It was around five in the evening or so. I was kind of wandering around the house, wondering what to do. Mia had insisted apon ordering pizza ("I love your cooking and all, Cye, but right now I need the grease and cheese only delivery can serve, and if I don't get it, SOMEONE DIES!"), so I didn't have to cook.

I found Ryo in Mia's computer lab, typing away at the computer. Ryo had been taking a few computer courses in school since he had been computer illiterate before the year started. Knowing that just about every profession required some computer knowledge, he'd started practicing with them and now he was just as knowledgeable about them as Mia and Rowen were. "Hello," I said, taking a seat on the desk.

"Hi, Cye," he said, looking up at me. "What's on your mind?"  
"Nothing," I said. "Just a little. . . bored, I guess."

"Yeah, not much to do around here is there?" he said, clicking on a few folders. "Bingo."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Information on how to get into the Nether Realm. In a few days it'll be the one year anniversary since we defeated Talpa," he said, leaning back into his chair. He bit his bottom lip as his tiger blue eyes skimmed over the screen. "Looks like I'll have to borrow the Jewel of Life from Yuli for a little while."

"Oh," I said. "What's planned for the party?"

"Well, we're going to by a lot of finger foods, we're hoping to get a wide variety of main dishes and sides made up- Kento's making a bunch of his mom's recipes and Rowen wants to order pizza-, plan some games, you know, that kind of stuff. We just have to let Kayura and the Warlords know that just because they're old enough to drink sake, we aren't."

I laughed at the comment, then looked outside. _It's nice outside. It should be warm despite the house. Why don't you go out for a walk, Cye? A nice, long walk will do you good, _a little voice inside my head told me. "You know, despite the fact it's getting dark, I think I'll go for a walk," I said, sliding off the desk.

"All right, just be back before ten," said Ryo.

"I know, I know," I said. "I'm not ROWEN for crying out loud."

"Yeah, I know, just checking," said Ryo, smiling. "See you later, Cye."

"Bye, Ryo," I said, leaving the computer room.

After making sure I had my wallet and my armor orbe, I went outside. I waved to Sage, who was practicing with his sword. He smiled back, nodding his head as he continued his training. I went down the driveway, down the hill, and started towards the city.

At night, Toyama has a way of lighting up like a Christmas Tree. It's actually very pretty, and it's nice to walk through. I wandered aimlessly through the streets, looking at the bright array of lights and people. I enjoyed nights like that. Just me and the world, it seemed. It was something I cherished and loved.

I walked for a few hours, looked at my watch, and saw it was a little past eight. I had just under two hours to get home, which, from the looks of the area I was in, wouldn't be too difficult. If push went to shove (as in I caught the wrong bus or subway), I'd just find a pay phone, tell Mia or Ryo or whoever answered I was going to be a little late and apologize for being so.

I heard the sounds of children screaming. I winced, knowing where it was coming from. I was in the downtown area, near one of the hospitals and, most notably, the orphanage. Sad to say, the woman in charge of the orphanage was cruel old woman with a short temper and a mean backhand. Ryo, who spent some of his childhood there, thinks she was an alcoholic, too, maybe taking some other drugs, too. Every child there rushed to get adopted as soon as possible to escape from the old woman, hoping and praying that some couple would soon become their new mom and dad.

You're probably wondering why that place hasn't been shut down by the cops or at the very least the old woman hasn't been brought to jail. Well, it isn't like the police haven't TRIED to get something on her. They'd been working at it for years, with Ryo and several other children who had left the orphanage trying to help with testimonials and offering to go to the stand should a trial start. But any evidence they got was never solid, any paper trails always led to dead ends, and whenever something that looked hopeful came up, there was nothing to back it up.

I leaned up against the wall of the orphanage, taking in a heavy breath. I hated to hear them in there, begging for mercy and their parents. The old witch continued to scream, undoubtedly beating one of the poor children senseless. Why couldn't the authorities just stand outside here one night, listening to the children scream? Listen to the woman's swears? Wasn't that enough to can her? Wasn't it?

It was then that I heard the heavy breathing.

I looked up to see a figure carrying a bundle and a folder, coming from the general direction of the hospital. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. The person seemed a bit suspicious, and my senses told me something was seriously wrong with that picture. Especially when I realized they were heading towards the orphanage.

The figure drew closer, and I got a better look at them. Whoever they were, they were wearing a very loose fitting sweat suit, their hair a tangled red mess hanging over their face. Whoever it was, they were a complete wreck. As the person got even closer, I recognized exactly who it was.

Sheila.

I froze. Once the shock wore off, I looked around, wondering where an escape was. No, no, no, Sheila couldn't be coming back! What did she want? I was afraid she was after me again, still sex crazed and psychotic. _No, Cye, you can run away this time. You're not as vulnerable as you were all that time ago._

Sheila looked up and spotted me. Her face was flushed, and it was a little bit chubbier. She certainly wasn't the girl that every boy at school had been swooning over nearly a year ago. Had their first impression of her been what I was looking at, they would have hummed a very different tune. She looked something like a drowned rat (though I will admit that the idea of her being a drowned rat is a bit appealing to me).

The look on my former girlfriend's face was one of sincere distaste and disgust. Her eyes were almost bloodshot, like she'd just gotten off of some sort of a drug. What little green I could see was looking at me in a rage similar to one I'd seen nearly a year earlier, only this time, they seemed to be blaming me for something. "Hello, maggot," she said.

I wasn't sure what to say. How was I going to greet a person who had toyed with my heart and raped me? "What are you doing here?" I finally asked. "I thought you skipped town."

"Thanks to you, I had no choice but to skip town," she said.

"What do you mean 'thanks to me' you had to skip town?" I said. "What the hell did I ever do to you? You're the one that raped me!"

Sheila looked up at me, blinking. Then, she chuckled. "You never figured it out, did you, Cye? You never figured out why I left," she said coolly.

"Why should I have given a damn about it?" I said, putting my hand up to the cross, which now had a new chain. "You wouldn't respect my wishes of abstinence. The scrape-job you did on my back is still there today. I could barely function for a damned month! Having you leave school was one of the best things that ever happened to me over the course of our entire damned relationship!"

Sheila grinned. "You really don't have a clue, do you? Though, I suppose you wouldn't. Poor, poor little Cye is so naïve to the ways of the modern world today. So sweet and innocent. Cye is the good little boy who never gets into trouble, always gets good grades, and doesn't have a thing against anybody in the entire world."

"At the very least I have something against you, and you know what it is," I said.

Sheila gave me a delirious smile. "Ask me why I left school, Cye."

"Why the hell do I care why you left school?" I said.

Sheila gave me a smug smile. "Okay, I'll ask the questions. How long has it been since I left school?" she asked.

I looked slightly down, counting the months. "Eight."

"How long was it between the time I had sex with you until the time I left?" she asked.

"One month," I said. "Sheila, what on Earth are you. . ." I started. Then, I froze. One month after the rape that she disappeared. Eight months that she was missing. One and eight was nine. Nine months had passed since Sheila raped me. Nine solid months. One human gestation period.

Suddenly, I knew why Sheila had left.

Sheila had gotten pregnant.

And I was the father of the baby.


	7. The Choice

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Six: The Choice

I stared at Sheila, unsure of what to say. My head was swimming with thoughts of shock, denial, and a sort of subdued amazement. Sheila had gotten pregnant. She'd gotten pregnant by me. There was now a little person in the world with my blood flowing through their veins. "You mean. . . you had. . ."

"Yes, Cye, just say it. One of your God damned swimmers won the gold medal. You put a bun in the oven. You knocked me up," she said, getting bitter again. "You put me through the WORST nine months of my life! Do you have any idea what it's like to have back pains from your stomach being the size of a beach ball? Or how about labor? You try pushing something the size of a watermelon through a hole the size of a penny!"

I gaped at her. "You've had the baby, then," I said.

"Yes, I had the little bitch," she said.

"A girl," I said in amazement. "You delivered a baby girl."

"Yeah, I did. Little spore wouldn't stop screaming," she said.

I bit my lip, begging to get angry. "How can you say such a thing about your own daughter! Your own child!" I snapped. I pointed a finger at her accusingly. "How can you say such an immature thing like that. If you're willing to have sex at sixteen then you should be willing to accept the consequences of what could and obviously did happen!"

"Hey, it isn't MY fault my method of birth control failed," she said.

"What kind of birth control did you use?" I asked, my teeth gritted.

"Coke," she said. "It's supposed to be a sperm killer."

I really wanted to comment on her stupidity. Urban birth control methods never worked, don't work, and never WILL work. But as much as I wanted to scream and yell at her for being such an idiot, I didn't. Not now. The situation between us had gotten even tenser now that there was a child involved. A baby. . .

I think that's when it really hit me that I was a father. Oh, yes, I was able to recognize that something happened, but no, this time it REALLY hit me (kind of like how it doesn't hit the father of the bride his daughter is getting married until he's walking her down the isle). It hit me that Sheila really had gotten pregnant, carried the baby for nine months, and gave birth. It really hit me that I had a daughter. It really hit me that there was a little, tiny person in this world that I had (however so unwillingly) helped to create.

"May I. . . may I. . . hold her?" I asked slowly. Sheila stared at me, then handed me the bundle she had in her arms. Gently, I took her in my own arms and stared down at her. The bundle was wrapped in pink blankets, which I pulled away to see the face of a tiny baby. The baby was sleeping, eyes shut, oblivious to the world around her.

I could've cried right then. Suddenly, the rape didn't matter to me anymore. This new baby girl did. She was so small, so tiny. . . and she was mine. My child. I looked at her long and hard, amazed at what had happened. _Is this what I felt a few nights ago? Did I sense my child's birth? Did I?_

"Yeah, yeah, she's bald and she poops, big deal," said Sheila.

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked, looking up at my ex with interest. That thought scared me, actually. Considering what she'd done to me, what would she do to a defenseless baby? Even if it was her own child. I knew Sheila. I knew that she only cared about herself. What would she care if some horrible fate met the baby?

"Pop her in the orphanage," she said.

"What?" I said, looking up at Sheila in alarm. "You can't be serious!"

"Why do you think I came over here, you stupid son of a bitch? Of COURSE I'm going to the orphanage to get rid of her!" she said. Then, she narrowed her eyes as she advanced on me. "For that matter, what are YOU doing here?" she asked me. "Why are you hanging around the orphanage, Cye? You don't have a reason to be here?

"I was out for a walk, actually, but. . . Sheila, you know the stories surrounding this place. You've heard Ryo talking about what it's like in there!" I said, balancing holding the baby and pointing at the building. "You and I both know the stories are true. Why would you want to put someone through that?"

"Why should I care what happens to her once she's out of my hands?" she said. "I didn't want her, you didn't want her, so now we can get rid of her and got on with our lives. Why should I waste the rest of my teenage years taking care of a whining, crying little brat when I can go to dances, get laid and goof around?"

I looked down at the baby, trying to come up with an idea. I closed my eyes, realizing what I had to do. Was it something I wanted to do? I wasn't sure. Was it something I had to do? Yes. Yes, this was something I absolutely had to do. I would never forgive myself if I didn't do it. "Maybe you should speak for yourself," I said.

Sheila stopped cold. Then, she laughed. "Yeah right, Cye, do you actually think you can take care of a baby all by yourself? Or are you going to go back home, get ridiculed by your friends for getting me pregnant, and have them make you give up the little poop factory?" she said.

I didn't think the guys would ridicule me or make me give up the baby, but I knew that Sage had been raised with extremely high morals and might give me a hard time about it. No. Sheila was right. I couldn't go home- not if I wanted to keep the baby. And thanks to my virtue, it would be next to impossible for me to try and lie about just finding her or something.

"I can take care of her myself," I finally said. _Gee, nice one Cye Mouri, you don't know the first THING about newborns or how to take care of them. How do you expect to raise one yourself? You've never so much as held a baby bottle since you gave them up many, many years ago when you were small and God only knows what you'd do with a dirty diaper!_

"I can't believe this," said Sheila. "But fine. I don't care. You want her? You can have her." She gave me the folder she had been carrying. "In here is her birth certificate. If you sign them as her father, then you have every right to her. I'm off this rock and heading back to Ireland next chance I get."

I sat down on the stoop of the orphanage, the baby in my arms. I picked up the folder and started leafing through the legal documents. Finger prints, birth certificate, and other official looking papers lined it. I didn't understand about half of them, but I did manage to find the baby's birth certificate.

As I looked them over, my mind was running a mile a minute. Did I want to do this? Could I do this? _She's your baby, isn't she?_ my mind told me. I didn't think Sheila was cheating on me (though Lord knows she could've) and it had been about nine months since the rape. Besides, if someone else had slept with her, they probably would've boasted about it and word would have reached me or one of my other friends. I looked up at her. "Are you sure she's mine?" I asked.

"What, you think I was sleeping around?" she asked.

"Just making sure," I said. I fingered the birth certificate, trying to find where I was supposed to sign. I saw the empty box marked "father", right next to the box marked "mother", where Sheila had scrawled her name in marking her as the child's mother. There was nothing indicating the baby's name anywhere. "You haven't named her yet?"

"No," she said. "I'm getting rid of her anyways- why bother naming the brat?"

"Then I'll name her later," I said. "Got a pen?" Sheila tossed me one, nearly hitting the baby. I caught it with my free hand, and positioned the point over the box marked "father". I bit my lip. Once I signed the paper, there was no turning back. I would legally be the baby's father in addition to being her biological father.

Taking in a deep breath and mustering up all my courage, I signed my full name. A pit in my stomach formed as I lifted the utensil off the paper, my full name staring back at me. I put the pen down, closing my eyes. Now it was official. I was both biologically and legally the baby's father. I looked up at Sheila. "So. . . I guess we'd best get going."

"Fine," she said. With that, Sheila brushed her sweatpants off, gave me the finger, laughed, and walked away from the orphanage, leaving me and the baby alone. I watched her go, a mixture of feelings running amuck throughout my head and my entire being. Sheila was finally gone from my life, but she hadn't left me alone.

I stood up, carrying the baby and the folder. Now what?

An hour later, I found myself at the bus station. I maneuvered my hand to my back pocket to find my wallet and tried to figure out how much money I had and how much I would need to buy myself a bus ticket. Looking over a few price lists, I saw had enough to get me to Tokyo and have enough left to survive for a day or so. I'd probably have to stay in a homeless shelter for a while, but I realized that was a sacrifice I'd have to make.

I got my bus ticket, glad that I didn't have to pay an additional fare for the baby- she'd just be in my lap or something for the duration of the ride. The bus left in an hour, and would reach Tokyo a few hours later. Once I- no, we- arrived in Tokyo, I knew my life would never be the same again. Hell, it had already changed.

The bus pulled up to the station, letting me and my daughter board. I took a seat in the very back, trying to avoid contact with other passengers. Only a few other people boarded, mostly business people. I bit my lip, hoping I wouldn't be criticized. That was the last thing I needed right then.

My worst nightmare came true as I watched a young woman carrying a diaper bag walking towards the back of the bus. I was ready to panic. I wanted to sit alone. I didn't want anyone to ask me questions about my child. What would people think? She'd call attention to me and the baby and I'd have to deal with all their ridiculing for the entire bus ride!

Much to my dismay, the woman chose to sit next to me. She held a baby boy a few months older than my daughter, already big enough to sit up on his own and look around. I tried to hide from the woman, though it was no use. Her baby made a gurgling sound, pointing at me. The woman turned her head and smiled at me.

"Hi there!" she said brightly.

"Hello," I said quietly.

The woman looked at me strangely. "Don't tell me. Teen parent," she said.

I hung my head low. "Yes," I said, shutting my eyes tightly.

"Oh." The woman stayed silent for a long time. In a way, I felt relieved. No lecture. But in a way, the silence was. . . awkward.

Much to my surprise, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I looked up to see the woman was holding a baby bottle. "When she wakes up, she'll want this," she said.

I blinked in surprise. "You're offering me the bottle for. . ."

"Well, yes," she said. "My sister had her daughter when she was young, too. I've seen her struggle."

I stared at the woman in disbelief, then weakly smiled. "Thank you, ma'am," I said.

"Please- call me Keiko. Seems as if we're in for a long ride- might as well get to know each other. What's your name and what's your little one's name?"

"Well, my name is Cye, but. . . I just got her," I said. "Her mother wanted to put her in an orphanage and. . . I just. . . you must have some idea on what I'm talking about."

"She doesn't have a name yet?" asked Keiko.

"Well. . . no, she doesn't," I said. I looked down at my tiny daughter, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Her mother didn't name her, either."

"Sounds like a wonderful woman," the woman said, her voice low as it dripped with sarcasm. "Well, name isn't important for now. What IS important is you learning how to bottle feed her. Tell me- how old is she?"

"Can't be more than a few weeks old," I said.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Give me that bottle back and let me get a newborn bottle out for you," said Keiko, going back into the diaper bag. She gave me a smaller bottle with a slightly different colored milk. "This should be easier for her to digest. Mother's milk would be preferred, but her mother isn't here." From there, Keiko told me how to hold the bottle and the baby so she could successfully feed without choking. Since the baby was still asleep, however, I didn't want to risk feeding her.

The ride went long into the night due to traffic and long, winding roads. The baby slept quietly for the most part, only waking slightly to allow me to feed her. That gave me a chance to nod off into a very light sleep. Even at that, I didn't get enough sleep that night. I kept waking up to check on her, always making sure I still had her.

It was sometime after six in the morning that we arrived in Tokyo. Weary, tired, and frightened out of my mind, I got off of the bus, the baby in my arms. I paid for the rest of my fare. Keiko, who was off shortly after I got off, gave me directions to a homeless shelter for teens that she called a Teen Crisis Center.

"It's a good place for teenagers with problems like suicide, abuse, drug addiction, and, well, parenthood. They'll let you stay for free as long as you need," she said. Keiko looked up at a clock on the bus station, sighed heavily, and readjusted her load. "Well, good luck, Cye."

"Thank you, Keiko," I said.

"Hey, if you ever attend Tokyo Central High, drop me a line. I teach there!" she said as she was sucked into the crowd. I waved, calling several more words of thanks after her. Looked like I had at least ONE friend.

I left the bus station and walked out into the Tokyo streets. I'd been to Tokyo before with the guys, Kento's family, and on school trips, but never alone. And at that, I didn't have the responsibility of a very small child, either. That made me nervous. I didn't think someone would try to steal her, but. . . it was nerve wracking.

About two blocks away from where I guessed the Teen Crisis Center was, I heard a whimpering noise. I looked down to see the baby was waking up. I ducked into an alley, sitting on a trash can to try and calm her down.

"Shh. . . shh. . ." I insisted.

"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

You can see where saying "shh" was getting me. You guessed it: nowhere.

Now I had a good idea on why Sheila had wanted to leave the baby. I continued trying to soothe her, gently rocking her in my arms. She still cried and cried, wanting something that I couldn't give her.

That was when I realized what it was. She'd been sleeping since I received her. She'd never seen me before, and to her, I was a stranger. My child didn't know who her father was. She didn't know who I was. _Oh my God. . . poor thing doesn't trust me. I've go to think of a way to get her to trust me._

I had to think of something to calm her down. Well, what did my own mother do? No, I was her youngest and I didn't remember (or know from asking questions) how she calmed me down. What other mothers aside from Keiko did I know of? Think, Cye, think. You know PLENTY of moms and dads.

Of course! Mama Fuang! Kento's mother!

I remembered the short Chinese woman telling me a story about one of the first night's of Kento's life while I was living with his family. He'd been sick with something and she couldn't get him to calm down. Eventually, she started to sing him a lullaby and got him to sleep. Could that work for me?

Trouble was, what could I sing?

The baby continued to cry, and I just kept rocking her silently as I tried to think of something. Somehow, a song I knew struck me, and I tried to sing. "Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed. Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed. Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need. I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed," I sang softly.

My child started to calm down, making small gurgling noises instead. I kept going. "It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance. It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes the chance. It's the one, who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give. And the soul, afraid of dying that never learns to live."  
I gently took my child's hand as I continued to rock and sing to her, smiling down at my somewhat accidental creation. "When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long, and you think that love is only, for the lucky and the strong. Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose. . ."

The baby was fast asleep once again.


	8. A Friend in Need is a Friend in Deed

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Seven: A Friend in Need is a Friend in Deed

After getting my daughter to sleep, I finally made it to the Teen Crisis Center. It was a brick building with a nice, green lawn out front and a friendly looking sign. Windows were lined with poorly drawn pictures, most likely children born to teen parents much like my own daughter.

I walked inside to find a well-furnished lobby that included a desk, several waiting chairs, and tables lined with magazines and books. Behind a tall desk sat a woman with curly purple hair and a thick pair of glasses that kept falling to her nose. She was writing something, giving a bored sigh as she did.

I stepped up to the desk and took in a deep breath. "Um. . . excuse me?" I asked.

The woman slowly looked up at me. "Hello?" she asked.

"Yes. . . um . . . I need a place to stay. . ."

"Then you've come to the right place," she said. "Welcome to the Teen Crisis Center."

"I gathered that much. . . now that I'm here, what am I supposed to do?" I asked.

"Well, explain your situation to me," she said.

I blushed. I didn't want to give the full set of details to this woman. "What do you mean by that?"

"Are you a single parents or is the mother around somewhere?" she asked.

"Oh!" I said. "I'm single. Her mother. . . left," I said.

"Deceased?"

"Abandoned."

"Ah," she said, leaning back in her chair. "Your case is very unusual . . . Mr. . ."

"My name is Cye Mouri," I said. "Can you help me?"

"It's my job to help you," she said. She turned her chair to a small computer and started to type. She bit her lip. "Most of our rooms with cribs are occupied."

"Are there any available?" I asked.

"Yes, a room with two beds and a crib. One of the beds is already taken, though," she said. She looked at me with curiosity. "Do you want that room anyways?"

I bit my lip. The idea that someone else was already there made me nervous. What if it was some sort of a drug addict or gang member? Still, it didn't look like I had much of a choice. "I'll have to take that one," I said. The woman gave me a key, a set of instructions on where the room was, and sent me down to the room.

I entered the room and found it dark. Whoever I was sharing with wasn't in at the time. I flicked the light on to see a comfortable looking room. There were two beds (one of each side of the room), a few chairs, and a crib in one corner. I sighed in relief, walking over to put my daughter in it.

Satisfied that she was comfortable, I went over one of the chairs to sit down and read over my daughter's birth records. There was so much I had to learn about her, and I needed to learn it as soon as I could. What if she had some sort of an allergy that they'd already discovered? What if she had any special medical conditions?

By the time I got through the first page of information, my eyes were beginning to droop. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me. I yawned, wanting to sleep. But I was afraid that something would happen to the baby while I was unconscious.

I was vaguely aware of the sound of a door opening. I looked over to see that the door was opening. I blinked, yawning tiredly. As I yawned, my eyes automatically closed and thereby prevented me from seeing who was coming into the room.

"Cye?"

I opened my eyes, blinked, and realized who was in the room with me. The tall, lanky form of the artist who'd saved my sanity was staring at me through wide, shock-filled eyes. "Kojiro? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?"

"I asked first!" I interjected.

Kojiro kicked the door behind him closed and sat in the other chair. "My stepfather is a damned bastard, that's why I'm here."

"What did he do?" I asked, interested in hearing about someone ELSE'S problems for a change.

"He and my mom got into a fight the night I left. She stormed out and he started to drink. Well, he got really drunk, and he started talking about how I was the reason they were always getting into fights," said Kojiro, looking down at the floor. "He started beating me." Kojiro looked up at me, wiping away a few tears with the back of his arm. "Cye. . . I was scared. I, I almost went to stay with you guys at Mia's house, but there's already so many people here. I, I didn't know where to do, so I just ran away, and here I am."

I extended an arm and rested a hand on Kojiro's shoulder. "It's all right. You're away from him now. He can't get to you here," I said. Kojiro nodded glumly, looking very hurt and stressed. "How long have you been here?"

"Got here the day after I ran away," he said. "Everyone here has been really nice, but I don't want to be here. I want to be in a more stable environment. There are all sorts of drug addicts and suicidal freaks around here. . . I just want someplace NORMAL to stay. But I don't have any money, and I don't know where to even begin looking for a job." Kojiro sighed heavily, leaning back into his chair. "I feel like my life is ruined."

"I hear you loud and clear," I mumbled.

Kojiro sat up again, looking at me curiously. "How so, Cye?" he asked. He raised an eyebrow. "Now that we know my sob story, why are you here? Sure, you didn't have a normal environment back at Mia's, but it was a hell of a lot better than this place. Why are you here?"

I was about to say something when I heard the baby start to wake up again. Kojiro heard it too, his eyes suddenly dilating to a size I wasn't sure was humanly possible. He looked over at the crib, then at me. I lowered my head in shame. "Sheila, left, because, she got pregnant."

"Oh, Cye," said Kojiro, looking at me with concern. "Is that. . ."

"Yes," I said, getting up. I walked over to where the baby was beginning to wake up. She started to cry, screaming for something. I picked her up, trying to calm her down again. I held her against me, gently rubbing her back as she continued to scream.

Kojiro rushed over to me. "Cye. . . have you checked the baby's diaper or fed . . . they baby recently?" he asked.

"I fed her on my way down here," I said.

"C'mon, let's get to the nursery so we can get this little one changed and fed again," said Kojiro.

"All right," I said, letting Kojiro take my hand and lead me out of the room.

While we were in the nursery, one of the staff showed me how to change a diaper. The diaper was VERY soiled, and I was yelled at for letting my daughter go so long without a change. I tried to explain my situation to the woman, but I couldn't get so much as two words out. Kojiro watched silently, trying to evaluate my situation.

Once the baby was in a new diaper (and for that matter, bathed), I was bottle feeding her from a rocking chair. Kojiro was sitting next to me in silence, watching the baby drink. I was afraid of what he was going to say when he finally did decide to speak up. I didn't mind getting the tongue lashing from the staff member. It was my friend I was afraid of getting yelled at.

"So, tell me exactly WHAT happened," said Kojiro after several minutes of silence.

"Last night I went out for a walk and ran into Sheila. She told me what happened, and told me she was going to put the baby in the orphanage," I said. "I stopped her and told her I'd take care of the baby. But. . . Kojiro, I don't know anything about babies. If you listened to enough of what that woman said then you know it."

"So you just found out she even got pregnant last night?" said Kojiro. I nodded. "That's actually a half decent argument on why you don't have a damned clue at what you're doing, though you seem to be doing all right with feeding her."

"A woman on the bus I took down here showed me how to bottle feed," I said. "But there's so much I DON'T know about this, Kojiro. I'm not READY to be a father."

"Well, ready or not, here she is," said Kojiro. He smiled, looking down at my daughter. "She sure is a cutie."

I blushed. "Thank you," I said, unsure of what else to say.

"No, I'm serious. She looks so peaceful and content there, just sucking on the bottle and lounging in your arms," said Kojiro, laughing lightly. "How old is she?"  
"About a week. Sheila must have been in the hospital a few days with the baby or something," I said.

"Well, they usually are, aren't they?" said Kojiro.

"And you're the one that wanted to open the daycare center," I mumbled.

"Hey! That was just a thought, and besides, I HAVEN'T LEARNED ANY OF THAT STUFF YET!"

"Shh!" I said. "You're going to startle one of the babies that way!" I said, taking the bottle out of my daughter's mouth.

"Okay, I'll shut up," said Kojiro, holding his hands up in defense. "Well, if you ask me, the logical thing for us to do now is to stick together."  
"Stick together?" I said.

"If you and I put our heads and our wallets together, we can probably survive in this crazy world," said Kojiro. "Maybe we could even finish high school between taking care of the squirt and whatever jobs we end up getting."

"You want to help me raise the baby?" I asked.

"Hey, what are friends for?" said Kojiro, giving me a smile. "It might be fun to have a baby around."

"Kojiro, she isn't a toy- she's a baby," I said.

"Speaking of the baby, does she have a name yet?"

"Well. . . no," I said, looking back at her. "I've been so. . . I don't know, frustrated and busy, I haven't thought of one yet."

"Well why don't you think of one now?" said Kojiro. "There are a lot of nice names out there. Makato, Umi, Ami, Hikaru-"

"I want to give her a more. . . not oriental name," I said. "She isn't oriental- she's Caucasian like I am."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Kojiro.

"Nothing, I just want her to have a name that would fit in well if I ever took her back to England," I said. "Something my mother would aprove of."

"Then how did you end up with a name like 'Cye'?" asked Kojiro.

"Got me," I said. "Do they have any baby name books here?"

"I think so, let me go look for one," said Kojiro, getting up. "You stay here, all right?"

"All right," I said. What else did I have to do? I watched as Kojiro left the nursery, then went back to gently rocking myself and my daughter back and fourth in the rocking chair. What now?

Kojiro returned quickly, holding two baby name dictionaries. The two of us started to leaf through them, asking each other advice on what to name the baby.

"What about Kimberly?"

"How's about Sara?"

"No, no, Lindsey."

"Leslie?"

"Margaret?"

"Or how about Amber?"

"Yeah, but you haven't heard Sharmine!"

I was just about to give up, opening up the dictionary in my hand to one more random page. I started to read through the names, getting bored with the whole ordeal of naming my child. ". . . Arden, Ardis, Aretha, Argene, Aria, Ariadne, Ariana, Ariel. . ." I rambled. Then, I paused, going back to the last name I'd said. "Ariel."

"Arial?" asked Kojiro. "You mean something pertaining to aerodynamics or airplanes-"

"No!" I said. "It's a name. There's an animated film called _The Little Mermaid_ that has a mermaid named Ariel in it. I always thought it was a really pretty name myself."

"Well, if it's a name you like, then name her Ariel," said Kojiro.

"Are you sure?"

"Does it look like she's protesting?"

I looked down at the baby, seeing that she was asleep, her mouth hanging slightly open. I looked over at Kojiro through a curious eye, who just nodded. "Well. . . I don't know. . . I mean, she's going to have that name for the rest of her life. . ."

"Trust yourself here, Cye," said Kojiro. "Think real hard. It's not like your naming her something weird or whacked out like. . . oh, I don't know, some hard to pronounce thing."

I still wasn't sure about the name until the baby began to stir. I braced myself for another crying fit that would've taken all I had to calm her down. But no such fit came. Instead, she opened her eyes.

I pulled my child closer to me, looking into her eyes as she looked into mine. There, staring right back at me, were two sea green pools not at all unlike mine. My eyes began to water at the sight, and before long, I felt salty tears pour down my cheeks. "She's got my eyes."

Kojiro placed a hand on my shoulder, looking down at the tiny girl. "You're going to make a great dad, Cye," he said. "She knows who you are and she wants to be your friend, I think."

I looked up at Kojiro through reddened eyes, raising one arms high enough for me to wipe my eyes on the shoulder of my shirt. "Do you think Ariel is a good name?"  
"I think it's a great name," he said. "Congratulations, Cye. You're a dad."

I looked at Kojiro and weakly smiled.


	9. A New Way of Life

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Eight: A New Way of Life

The first several weeks were some of the most awkward in my entire life. The people at the TCC were all more than helpful to me as they showed me how to do everything I'd need to do in order to take care of my child. Suddenly I was thrust into a world of diaper rashes, baby formula, and classes on caring for sick children, all the while having to apply them to my own.

I don't know how I would have been able to do it without Kojiro. He attended almost all of the classes I took and when he wasn't in class, he was trying to find jobs and an apartment for the two- THREE- of us. There were even nights that I was so miserable and tired that he would tell me to stay in bed while he calmed and put down a fussy Ariel. I'd watch him from my pillow and smile as the baby would eventually stop crying and move on to giggling or gurgling. He really WAS good with kids.

In addition to all of my child care classes, Kojiro eventually convinced me to see the psychologist and get help for my other problem. The "convincing" phase went on for a week- I kept telling Kojiro I was all right and that I could handle it. On day seven, he handed me a list of reasons why I should see the psychologist. And it was a long list, too. It had benefits for both me and for Ariel on it. Truth be told, it was some of the things on Ariel's list that caught my interest. Sure, all of them were related to my reasons, but it gave me some serious food for thought.

For one, Kojiro guessed that now that the trust and love involved in a relationship had been betrayed on my part, I would have trouble functioning in a normal one. My friend went on to reason that if I wasn't able to start dating again and even marry, Ariel would never have a mother figure. Sure, if I'd had a boy that might've been all right, but even as feminine as I was, she needed an older female influence in her life. So, thanks to Kojiro, I was on my way to a mental recovery that I needed.

The psychologist was a nice old lady who listened to any rambling I might've had in relation to either the rape or my daughter. She was very good about explaining to me what I could try to do to get my life in as much order as I could. She told me that I may never fully get over what happened to me with everything ranging from flashbacks to bad dreams. That wasn't something that settled too well with me. Sure if I had a flashback when Ariel was a baby she wouldn't remember it, but after she hit two or three, she'd start remembering those kinds of things. I wanted to know how I could suppress them.

Dr. Omasami (the psychologist) pointed me in the direction of some rape recovery groups and some teen parent discussion groups. She told me that while she and Kojiro were both great people to talk to, neither one of them could relate to me. Neither one of them had ever been raped. They didn't know what it was like to be violated like that. And I hoped to the Lord they never would.

A few days after I started seeing Dr. Omasami, Kojiro advised me to try and call the others to let them know I was all right. "They have the right to know you're alive, Cye. I bet they're worried sick about you," he said. The two of us were in our room, me rocking Ariel to sleep. "You were involved with a great group of guys. You were all so close and open with each other."

"I know," I said. While Kojiro didn't understand why we were all so close, he could sense it. Feel it, maybe. The armors have created an incredibly strong link between the five of us, a link that held us all together and at times kept us sane. I missed them terribly. I really wanted to talk to them about it, but I was too embarrassed and ashamed of what had happened to me, and now that there was a child involved. . . no. I just couldn't face them.

I made the phone call the night after Kojiro recommended I call them. My friend and the baby were in our room while I made the call from a pay phone down the street. I didn't want the others to hear the baby in the background if I could help it. Then they'd criticize me before I had a chance to tell them what happened.

I had no intention of telling them about the rape, but I did want to do what Kojiro had suggested- call them to tell them I was okay. I wasn't going to tell them where I was, why I was there, or what had happened the night I left. They didn't need to know that much. Not yet. Oh, they'd be worried sick all right, but. . . no, I just couldn't.

I dialed the number to Mia's mansion and waited for either an actual person or the answering machine to pick up. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. I heard a clicking sound on the other end. Someone was home. Question was, who was home to answer the phone? "Hello?"

I closed my eyes. "Kento? That you?"

"Cye, where the hell are you? Are you all right? What happened? Are you hurt! Oh, please don't tell me you're in a hospital! We're all worried sick over you! Mia hasn't stopped driving around to all the hospitals and shelters in Toyama since you left! Damn it, she even tried the morgue once!" my best friend said over the phone.

"Kento, calm down, I'm all right," I said. I sighed heavily. "Kento, look, I'm really sorry that you're all worried about me, really, I am." I started to twist what I could of the phone cord around my finger. "But. . . Kento, please, try to understand. I can't come home."

"What do you mean you can't come home? Cye. . . we aren't the You-Know-What without you!" Kento said. "Please, come home, whatever it is we'll work it out, I promise you that. If it's something you did or something that happened you know that we'll support you through it."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears. "I wish I could, Kento," I said. "But. . . please try to understand. Something happened to me and now my life is never going to be the same ever, ever again. And I have to deal with this. I can't turn my back on it. If you knew what it was. . . I'm afraid you'd just hang the phone up on me."

"I would never do that, Cye," said Kento. "Where are you? I'll go pick you up."

"I don't want to be picked up, Kento," I said. "I just wanted you all to know that I'm all right. Do you think I want to be having this conversation with you? You think I want to just walk out on you? Hell no! Every last part of me wants to go back home but the bottom line is I CAN'T. I don't even know if I could go back to England to see my mum and my sister. Kento, my life is never going to be the same again." By then tears were streaming down my cheeks. "My life is in such a disarray right now. I need some time to try and get everything back together before I can go home."

Kento stayed silent for a few seconds. "Why?"

I continued to try and fight my tears. "Something happened to me. This something isn't necessarily bad, but it isn't necessarily good, either. But it isn't something I can just turn my back on. It's something I have to deal with or else I'll never be able to forgive myself," I said quietly.

"What happened to you?"

"I. . . I. . . God, Kento, I can't," I said, close to fully breaking down. I sniffled. "I'm too embarrassed to say what it is- you'd all just disown me or worse. You guys are my friends, and at that, some of the best friends I've ever had. I don't want this. . . change, to affect how you look at me."

"Cye, if you don't tell me what your damned problem is then how the hell can I disown you for it? You've been my best friend since we were twelve. You can tell me anything and I will do nothing but support you and help you. If you're addicted to drugs or you've gotten involved with a bad crowd we can help you get out of that," said Kento.

"If it were drugs or a gang I would've stayed home. This is something very, very different and I have to handle this on my own," I said. "Good bye, Kento."

"Cye, wait, don't hang up!" I heard him say as I pressed the silver receiver in. Kento's voice was replaced by a dull, endless dial tone. I hung the phone back up, leaning against it. I was shaky, ready to burst out into a fit of tears. I was scared. I didn't know where to go or who to turn to anymore. I ran out of the phone booth and didn't stop for a long time.

I ran myself to a park somewhere downtown, were I sat at the base of a tree and cried my eyes out. I wanted my old life back. I didn't want to be a father! I didn't want to have to raise a child at sixteen! I was too damn young to have to worry about something other than school work and my social life!

I looked up into the sky, leaning my head up against the tree. My tears were fewer in number and I knew I was calming down. Was I still upset? Oh yes, you can bet I was still upset. Talking on the phone with Kento had given me a real wake up call. And now I was TRULY scared.

I thought back to Ariel. Why? Why did something like this have to happen? I was too young to be a father. But now I was one. I was a father. Ariel was my daughter. _Cye, stop acting like a selfish idiot and get your ass back to the Teen Crisis Center. Ariel needs you. She's never going to have her mother, but you can try your hardest to make sure she has a father._

Sniffling, I stood up and started the long walk back to my temporary residence. As I walked, I looked around Tokyo. I'd been there a few times with Kento's family and the others, but to be there all alone like I was. . . it was something quite different. This city was going to be my new home. I was seeing it in a whole new light now because of it. In a way, I was kind of excited, but the overwhelming fear I'd felt since I'd learned about my child kept haunting me.

I found myself in front of the Teen Crisis Center sometime after dark. The time of day surprised me and made me wonder just how long I'd been out. I went inside and clumsily made my way back to our room, where I found Kojiro holding Ariel, nodding off in a rocking chair that one of the staff members had placed in our room. I smiled as I closed the door behind me. Kojiro opened one eye. "How'd it go?" he asked quietly.

I sat across from him, taking the baby in my arms. I looked down at Ariel and carefully took her hand in mine. "Kento was home," I said. "I talked to him." I sighed heavily. "He kept trying to talk me into coming home and was asking where I was. I kind of expected that, but I didn't think it was going to hurt this much. I would've been home earlier, but. . . I had a little bit of a break down after I hung up."

"Uh oh," said Kojiro. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just let some tears flow. Ran for a while and stopped at some sort of a park," I said. I crossed my legs, still looking down at the baby. "I guess talking to Kento, having him asking me to come home. . . it made me think about what I'll be giving up now that I'm a parent."

"It's something you're going to need to do," said Kojiro. "But I have some good news anyways." He reached over and grabbed the paper. He flashed me an add in the Help Wanted section. "There's a nice restaurant downtown that's offering waiting jobs. You just barely meet the minimum age requirement."

"Waiting tables?" I asked.

"Yes!" said Kojiro. "You get a pay check for working there, plus, you get tips. Cye, this place attracts the rich and famous, and the rich and famous buy expensive. That means big tips. The tips we could get from waiting tables will probably give us enough money to keep up with the little one."

"Keep up with?" I asked.

"Think about how many diapers you go through in a day, Cye," said Kojiro.

"Oh."

Kojiro stood up, yawning. "Yech, I want to get some sleep," he said. He put his hands on his hips and stretched. "Man, if anyone should be tired it should be you, Cye. You're the one who went through something just short of nerve-wracking."

"Tell me about it," I said. "So are we going to apply for the jobs tomorrow?"

"You bet," said Kojiro. "Which means we have to haggle the staff here for some decent looking suits, because guess what? This is a full blown interview, Cye. We have to meet the boss, answer all of his questions, AND fill out all the applications. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

"Who'll watch Ariel?" I asked.

"The nursery will," said Kojiro. "You need a job to support your child. The people here will be thrilled that you're finally ready to go looking for a job. I'm telling you, getting someone to look after the baby will be a snap." He nodded, then yawned again. "Wah, I want to go to sleep."

"You do that," I said, putting Ariel in her own crib. After making sure she was settled in, I pulled my jeans off and crawled into my own bed. I looked across the room at Kojiro, who was also settling in. "Good night, Koji." I got myself into a comfortable position and took in a deep breath.

"'night, Cye," said Kojiro, reaching for the light switch. He turned the lights off and we were bathed in darkness. It didn't take long before I could hear the muffled sound of Kojiro sawing logs, getting a soft chuckle out of me. Kojiro was a great guy and I was very, very happy that he'd be helping me raise my child.

I hugged my pillow, then rolled over to look at my small daughter's crib. There were no signs of her waking up, which made me feel somewhat at peace. An uneasy peace, but at least that one thing wasn't something I had to worry about. My conversation with Kento had placed a bit on my plate of food for thought. I had ended one chapter in my life and begun another. I wasn't the most important person in my life anymore.

I shifted again, staring up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head. I couldn't see much, which was all right, I suppose. Like it would matter any in the least. Like there was anything important on the ceiling. I'd seen it several times, anyway. The paint chips and there are several coffee stains from the above story that head seeped through the floorboards to the ceiling in out room. Nothing special.

_Try to get some sleep, Cye_, I thought to myself. _You're gonna need it tomorrow._


	10. Preparations

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Nine: Preparations

Kojiro and I stared up at the finely decorated sign. The Golden Sunset wasn't a huge place, but I had heard of it before- Kento's parents had gone to some sort of a charity ball or something that had been catered by it. Mr. Rei Fuang had told us it was the best non-Chinese food he'd ever tasted (he has a bit of an ego problem when it comes to the family business, even though all the recipes are from Mrs. Rei Fuang's side of the family. . .).

The two of us walked it to find the restaurant was just about empty. Many round tables saw with white tablecloths draped over them. I ran my hand over one to see that it was made of a very good material. Kojiro, being bolder than I was, walked further into the place. "Hello?" he asked. "Is anyone here?"

Footsteps could be heard some ways a way. Before long, a short, chubby Japanese man emerged. He stopped before Kojiro and looked my friend up and down. The man looked somewhat professional in his green business suit and gold-rimmed glasses. He had a short but thick neck and not much hair on top of his head. "Yes? May I help you?"

Kojiro bowed respectfully. The man seemed to like this gesture and bowed in return. Despite the fact neither one of them paid any attention to me during this, I pressed my hands together and bowed as well. "Yes. My friend and I would like jobs. You advertised it in the newspaper," said Kojiro.

The man looked over at me. I smiled nervously. "Hi," I said, waving cautiously.

"Hello," he said. The man then turned back to Kojiro. "Do you have any prior experience?"

Kojiro's head dropped. "Uh. . . I don't. . . but Cye might. . ."

The man turned back to me. "Well? Do you?"

I wracked my brain for an answer. "I. . . er. . . the family I was living with owned a restaurant and I waited a few tables whenever they were shorthand," I said. I bit my lip. This man did not seem very impressed with us. "It was only a few times but. . . we really, really need these jobs, sir."

"Oh, I'm sure that you and all of my other applicants need this job," said the man. "Why do you think you need this job any more than my other potential employees? Why do you two think you're so special? You two certainly don't look very well kept if you ask me."

Kojiro and I exchanged looks of defeat. "C'mon, Cye," he said. Kojiro draped an arm over my shoulder as we started to walk towards the exit. "We'll find another job and we'll get an apartment and we'll make sure Ariel grows up just fine, you'll see. We don't need a job from-"

"Hold it right there, young men."

Both of us stopped in our tracks and turned around to look at the man again. He had his arms folded and was staring at us intently. "Uh. . . what?" asked Kojiro. "Didn't you just say we were too scruffy looking to get a job at a place like this? It's just so fancy and we've really got crap-"

"What did you say about this. . . Ariel?" asked the man.

Kojiro looked at me and gulped. He wanted me to answer the question. I gulped. "I have a daughter," I said. I clenched my eyes shut getting nervous. "Her mother wanted to abandon her at an orphanage. I didn't even know about the pregnancy until I found her while she was on her way there. I couldn't see my own child put into such a. . . a horrid place like that."

"Toyama, by any chance?" said the man, growing quieter.

"Yes," I said. "Toyama. I argued with her briefly over it, and I. . . I took our child. I know I'm young and I know I'm very unprepared, but I want to raise this baby. She's not even two months old yet. Kojiro and I are living out of the Teen Crisis Center. I don't want her to grow up amongst all these drug addicts and suicidal maniacs."

My man nodded. "I grew up in the Toyama Orphanage."

Kojiro and I exchanged looks. "You did?" was our collective answer.

"Yes," he said. He held up a finger, telling us to wait. "I'll be back very shortly," he told us. He disappeared into a side office, the sound of something moving around quickly following. Kojiro and I looked at each other, each shrugging. What was this man doing, anyways? Why had he asked about Ariel?

I felt something hit my chest and looked down to see a plastic grocery bag in my hands (One of Mr. Rei Fuang's favorite games was "Think Fast" and I adapted very quickly to the game). Kojiro also had a bag. I looked inside the bad and saw clothing inside. We looked up to see the man smiling.

"My name is Mr. Miyamoto. I expect you both to be here tomorrow morning at no later than ten thirty for your training. Your shirts and pants are to be ironed, you are to supply your own pencils for taking orders, and if you do not have black dress shoes, speak with me tomorrow- I can get you a discount at my brother's shoe store," he said.

Kojiro and I stared at the man in wide-eyed shock. Before the man could react, we both jumped him and started to hug, squeeze, and bless the man in the name of every deity we could think of. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" said Kojiro. "You are my hero of the day!"

"Hey! HEY! Get off of me! I can't breathe!"

About a month after I received Ariel and three weeks after we'd gotten jobs at the restaurant, Kojiro and I found an apartment. Well, Kojiro found the apartment. I had just gotten back from my teen parent discussion group ("College, Kids, and Careers- Survival in a Dog Eat Dog World") when Kojiro rushed in, flailing his arms around excitedly. "I did it! I finally found one?"

"Found one what?" I asked as I repositioned Ariel in my arms.

"An apartment!" said Kojiro. "It's cheap, it's got two bedrooms, and the bathtub isn't in the kitchen!" Kojiro started to pace back and forth, rubbing his hands excitedly. "Cye, you should see it. Sure it isn't the nicest place, but it'll do. Think about it, Cye. A home. A place to call home."

"Are you sure about this, Kojiro?" I asked, putting the baby into her crib. "Do we have enough?" So far, we hadn't been able to save up too much. Ariel had gotten some sort of an ear infection two weeks earlier and we had to dip into our savings to pay for her medication and doctor's appointment. It had cost quite a bit since we hadn't figured out what to do to insure the baby.

"Well. . . oh, we'll never save up enough before someone else buys it!" said Kojiro, flopping down into one of the chairs in our room and slamming the newspaper down to the floor. Then he stood up and started to pace, his arms flailing again. "We're going to outstay our welcome here! We're all gonna starve and Ariel's gonna grow up to be a prostitute and we'll have to become drug dealers to make ends meet and we'll rot in prison once the cops find us and-"

SLAP!

Kojiro breathed heavily from his place on the floor. "Cye. . . thank you," he said. I nodded, extending a hand to help him to his feet. He dusted his pants off and sat back in his chair. "Right. Now, money for an apartment. How are we ever gonna get the money for it? The restaurant is paying us great money, but it isn't enough!"

"Just be patient, Kojiro," I said. "Apartments aren't as expensive as houses or condos, but if we want one that isn't a bad neighborhood we're going to have to save up for a while. Besides, we usually get one good tipper a night and we've been working at least three nights a week. I'm thinking we bump it up to four or five nights a week if Mr. Miyamoto will allow it."

"Allow it? He'll love us for that!" said Kojiro. "Face it, he's seen the way the customers light up whenever I joke around while taking their orders. He ADORES the way you just communicate so well with everyone and make them feel really comfortable. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten on his hands and knees yet to beg us to go on full time!"

"Well, he knows we're going to have to tone down once school starts," I said.

"Yeah. . . that's in two weeks," he said. He grabbed a pad of paper off the table. He started scribbling down some figures. "If my calculations are correct- which, I warn you, they probably aren't- we should have the money in two weeks if we work five nights a week for three weeks."

"We can't work that often for that long," I said. "School. And there's no way in hell I'm going to drop out. If I can do it I'm going to get at LEAST a high school diploma so I can get a better job so I can support Ariel. There's got to be SOMETHING we can do to get more money." I frowned, realizing what our only solution was. "Six nights a week."

Kojiro blinked at me. "You're nuts."

"Extra long shifts," I said. "We need to money, Kojiro. The people here KNOW we have jobs and we're trying to save up- if we kick it up a notch or so, they'll be happy to take Ariel all the much longer. Face it- the sooner we'll settled down and out of here, the sooner they can start helping other people, remember?"

Kojiro frowned. "How does seven sound?"

I gulped. That would even be enough to start a small bank account of some sort. I nodded. "Seven nights. Overtime." I sighed heavily. "We're going to be exhausted by the time we get the money, but it'll be worth it, right?" Kojiro nodded glumly, stood up, and quietly announced he was going to call our boss.

After a week of overtime, we counted up our tips and respective paychecks after we got home on night number seven. Kojiro clicked his tongue as he counted the money. I was sitting cross legged on the floor across from him with Ariel (she'd woken up when we got home and I'd taken the task to try and get her back to sleep) in my lap. She was asleep, her mouth hanging open as if looking for a bottle. I didn't want to put her in her crib right away. She was just too cute.

"Man, why don't people understand we want MONEY for our tips?" said Kojiro. "We don't need some of these things!" He held up three piece of candy and a condom. "Will THIS pay for an apartment? NO! OF COURSE NOT! I swear if I get ONE MORE Hershey's bar I'm going to get FIRED for KILLING the customer and ARRESTED for KILLING THE CUSTOMER!"

"Kojiro calm down!" I said, giving my friend a stern look. "Look, from what we've counted and what we haven't counted, we're almost there to an apartment." I rolled my eyes. "And when you FLIRT with the female customers you're going to GET phone numbers and condoms because some of them think that's what you want and they're glad to give it to you."

Kojiro blew up at his bangs. Then, he grinned. "You know what, I think I know why I keep getting all of these things." He puffed his chest out and held his head up high. "Cye, don't you get it? I must have animal magnetism! The girls are WOOED by my incredible charm and dazzling good looks so-"

"Kojiro. . . some of those numbers were given to me, too."

"Then you have it too!"

I shuddered and looked down at Ariel. "That's the last thing I want right now."

Kojiro looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and backed away. "You're not gay or something, are you?"

I scowled at him. "Hell no!" I said. I repositioned Ariel so she was cradled in my arms. "I'm just as straight as you are, but think about what happened with my LAST girlfriend. She raped me and now I'm stuck taking care of the baby that was conceived during that act!"

"Okay, okay, Cye, just calm down, don't bite my head off," said Kojiro. He then went back to counting for the next several minutes, taking down a few numbers on a piece of paper every so often. I watched, wanting to help him. Kojiro wouldn't let me- last time I tried to help with our financial situation I kept getting in his way and Kojiro is a MUCH better bookkeeper than I was.

I almost smiled at that thought. He'd learned a lesson about me Kento had learned when we were kids. See, Kento decided to open a lemonade stand one summer. While he handled our "patrons" (I wanted to call them "customers" but he said his way was more professional), I took down all of our earnings. Unfortunately, I kept charging people the wrong prices and once forgot to collect the money and just sent a VERY happy little kid on his was with a free drink. To say the least Kento was very upset- he estimated we were out roughly three thousand yen by the end of the first day. I wasn't surprised to find myself inside MAKING the lemonade for the remainder of the summer. As an upside, my lemonade tasted better and we more than made up for the lost money.

After several minutes of counting, Kojiro had everything counted up. "We should have enough to buy an apartment as is and have some left over to buy clothing and stuff like that." He grinned, his eyes twinkling merrily. "This is GREAT ! Tomorrow, first thing, let's head out and go apartment hunting! Whaddaya say? Are you up for it?"

I sighed heavily. "Ask me AFTER I've have a good night's sleep."

Kojiro nodded in agreement. "Yes. . . sleep. . . need sleep. . . want sleep bad. . ." he said, adding in a yawn for good measure. He took all of our money and stuffed it into the backpack we'd been using as our "bank account", then jammed the door closed with a broken broom handle (the lock wasn't very reliable). While trying to balance the baby in one arm and brace myself with the other, I got to my feet and went to put the baby in her crib.

I went to sleep that night feeling slightly better.


	11. A New Home

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Ten: A New Home

"Uh-uh!"

I groaned. "Give me a second, please, Ariel?"

"Uh-uh!"

"Ariel. . ."

"Uh-uh!"

I sat up, a tired but gentle smile on my face. Ariel was sitting up in her playpen, a plastic block in one hand and a stuffed hamster in the other. Her arms were wildly waving up and down as she used what little vocabulary she had (which was, at the time, confined to little more than grunts, screams, and cries – she wasn't quite talking yet) to get my attention. Once I reached the playpen I reached in and picked her up. "Hello there, little one."

"Uh-uh!" she cooed happily, dropping the toys on either side of us. She looked down at the hamster and began to whimper. "Uh-uh!" I nodded, bending down to retrieve the toy. Ariel cried out happily, holding the toy in front of her like a new treasure. I kissed her forehead and she giggled.

Holding her with one arm, I sat back down at the kitchen table to try and finish my homework – assuming Ariel would let me. I placed her on my knee, started to bounce said knee while keeping an arm around her waist, and picked up my pen again to finish up the science write-up I was working on. Ariel was delighted with the bouncing motion and clapped her hands in approval as she squealed in delight. I cracked a grin as I listened to her.

It had already been over a year since Ariel had been born, and about a year, give or take a few weeks, since Kojiro and I had gotten our apartment. We had enrolled in school and, as we expected, weren't exactly accepted right off the start because we were two boys trying to raise a little girl. People thought we were gay lovers, which we aren't, and it wasn't unusual to find our lockers or backpacks with words like "Fag" or "Queer" written or painted all over them. It was humiliating, and we were afraid to look to each other for support in public for fear of more harassment. We spent a lot of nights at our apartment just sitting on the couch, Ariel between us, sulking and talking about our problems as we tried to find solace in each other.

As I sat with Ariel at the kitchen table, however, Kojiro had already graduated from high school. He was attending night school three nights a week to earn a degree in computer graphic design ("I'll save the day-care for my mid-life crisis," he often joked), but for the mean time he was working in some office job that didn't require a college degree. Between the two of us he was bringing in more money and often had to help me pay for my own and Ariel's expenses. Bless him for doing that.

I was fighting my way through senior year. Kojiro had advised me on courses to take so I could land a job similar to his. From there I wasn't sure – I knew I wanted to go to night school like Kojiro to get a degree, but I didn't know what I wanted to do OR who would watch Ariel if we were both in college. If I hadn't been a parent then I wouldn't have questioned going into a career in marine biology, but I didn't think that would be an appropriate job to go after considering my situation. Field work could last days or even months at a time and I didn't want Kojiro to be stuck with her alone for long stretches of time, assuming he was with me that long.

Money was always an issue. Even with help from scholarships, student loans, and other things, we still found ourselves struggling to make ends meet. Whenever we DID have anything left over, we stuffed it into a bank account for an emergency. Kojiro had medical insurance with his job, but it didn't cover me and Ariel. Hopefully I could get coverage the following year once I was out of high school and working a better job. Still, I had Ariel to worry about. I'd have to find a company with employee daycare – much like the child care that the school offered – and hope that it was a good place to leave my child.

_Parenting sucks_, I thought on more than one occasion. I love Ariel with all my heart, but some days it's nearly impossible to bear. I'm had so many scares, sleepless nights and even a near nervous breakdown from all the stress. Doctors and teachers were telling me left and right to give Ariel up, but I put my foot down on that one. No matter how Ariel came into my life or how stressful it was becoming, I was going to BE a part of her life. I'd die before I let someone take my baby away.

Parenting and homework, two things I never thought I'd have to do at the same time, save helping my own children with their homework. But I had thought that would be years away only two years earlier. Yet here it was, sitting on my lap, probably thinking about her next snack, her next nap, or, her all time favorite, making me a special "present" in her diaper.

It was a Friday afternoon. Kojiro wasn't back from his job just yet, leaving just me and Ariel, though I didn't mind. It's nice to have Ariel to myself once in a while as long as she wasn't out of control. On those days Kojiro couldn't get home fast enough. But most of the time Ariel was a good baby – she was easy to amuse and relatively quiet if I needed some time to read or do my homework. Of course my paternal instinct didn't stop me from looking up every five minutes to make sure she was still in her playpen, moving and smacking her few toys together. If something ever happened to her because I didn't watch her close enough. . . I don't know WHAT I would do with myself.

"Hello, my little friends!"

I smiled weakly as Kojiro walked in, loosening his tie and dropping his briefcase into a chair. He yawned, stretched his arms over his head, and plopped down in the other kitchen chair. He looked tired, but not so tired that he was ready to sleep until the next morning (something he actually did once). He had a cup of coffee in one hand, which he was slowly nursing. "Long day at the office, Kojiro?" I asked. I put down my homework to give my friend a little attention while the other was focused on Ariel.

"Eh. It was okay. Same old, same old," he said. "Working tonight?"

"Yes," I said. I groaned. "I hate working on Friday nights. It's so busy."

"That's because people can stay out late because they don't work on Saturday morning. It's the kickoff to the weekend, Cye. You know that. You knew that long before you even came to Japan, never mind started working at the restaurant," said Kojiro. "So the squirt and I shall remain here while you're off feeding the masses."

"Hopefully I won't get any more unwanted advances," I said. I sighed and put my pencil down. The homework could wait until tomorrow at this point. I'd wanted to spend most of the day with Ariel to just play with her, but Kojiro had a point – I had to get ready for work. "Dear God, some Japanese women disgust me. They like to hit on anything that isn't Japanese, but you and I know they don't take any men but Japanese men seriously. Especially the old women."

"I hear ya," he said. "Sage had the same problem, didn't he?"

"He had it worse. I'm just average amongst Caucasian men. Women think God sent them Sage as a reward for. . . something. I don't know WHAT, but they think he's their gift to them. Sage would much rather hide than deal with it all," I said. I snorted. It was no secret that Sage was a very good-looking young man – Mia said we were all good looking, but even she said that there was something about Halo that made her heart flutter. This was a gift that he could have lived without, however. "Poor sap. You remember that incident where that one girl chased him down the street, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Kojiro said. He cleared his throat, batted his eyes, and began to talk in a high pitched girlie voice. "But Sage darling! Let me bear your children! I want to make sweet love to you all night long, my hot honey dew of lovin'! Take me, I'm ALL YOURS! OH, SAGE, YOU HANDSOME DEVIL, YOU! DO ME LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW! OH, OH, OOOOHHHHH!" By this point he was lying on the couch, the back of his hand to his forehead and his eyes gazing upwards.

I shook my head at him. "You're awful."

"And yet you keep me around," he said, sitting up.

I stood up. Kojiro followed suit to take Ariel. She looked at him curiously, tugged at his hair, and laughed happily as he cried out from the pain. "I'm so glad she likes you, Kojiro. I don't know what I'd do if she didn't, you know. It's just so nice to know I have someone I can trust her with."

"If I go bald before twenty YOU'RE paying for my hair replacement therapy."

"I'm sure I will."

Kojiro stuck his tongue out at me. I returned the gesture.

* * *

I returned home well after midnight in my usual post-work condition. After being on my feet all night, running between the kitchen and the dining hall, every part of my body seemed to my hurting. My wrists hurt horribly from carrying trays and writing down orders, my back hurt from carrying all of that food and I was about convinced that my legs would stop working all together one of those days. In addition, I also had a little added pain from a dropped coffee that splashed on my arm and a cut hand from a glass that someone had broken. I also smelled like teriyaki and wasabi sauce from just being in the restaurant all night.

Groggily, I removed my shoes and collapsed onto the pitiful excuse for an easy chair in the living room/dining room once I made sure the door was closed. I sat there for several minutes, not wanting to move a muscle. I'd been doing nothing BUT move for the past several hours and I had had enough of that.

Exhaustion was something I'd come to know very well now that I was a parent. I spent many nights with a finicky Ariel who wouldn't sleep due to illness, or gas, or a diaper change, or even nights she just didn't want to go to sleep. Kojiro still offered to take her, but most of the time I wouldn't let him. There really was no reason for him to have to do that, after all. She was my baby, making her my responsibility. Besides, he needed sleep, too.

But Ariel wasn't the only problem. I was constantly working if I wasn't in school, and I rarely had a day-off. I averaged four hours of sleep a night and at times declared the coffee pot in our kitchen was my only friend in the world (Kojiro didn't usually object to this – he often declared the coffee part a sacred relic). Breaks from school were used for sleeping while classmates were going on day trips to the mall or video arcade. My teachers and fellow classmates knew I was sleep deprived, and it wasn't until I fell asleep while standing on the chalk board and hit my head against the ledge of the board as my body fell to the floor. All I remember from that day was waking up in the nurses' office with Kojiro panicking across the room asking if I had a concussion.

Eventually I was able to force myself out of the chair – I had to get to bed. Sleeping in the chair all night would do me no good. Though my bed was no luxurious scientifically enhanced relaxation system, it was still comfortable enough for me to get a good nights sleep. Leaning against a wall for support from both a stiff back and lack of energy, I stumbled towards Ariel's nursery.

Considering our very tight budget, the nursery did look fairly extravagant. Though I couldn't afford anything fancy to begin with, well, having an artist for a roommate has its advantages. Kojiro offered (read: begged and pleaded for three days) to paint Ariel's nursery. After I accepted the offer (read: gave in due to lack of sleep from Kojiro repeating the word "please" directly into my ear for two hours straight while I was trying to sleep), he went straight to work.

I wasn't sure how he planned to pull it off – after all, where was he going to get the money for all that paint? As it would turn out he spent less than ten dollars on paint – one of the art teachers was getting rid of paint at the end of the school year and, seeing an opportunity, relieved her of most of it. I had to admit – I was impressed, but still skeptical. Kojiro just gave me a smirk as he set about his work.

The crib, dresser, changing table, lamp, and diaper pail we'd gotten had all been plain and in some cases second-hand. Kojiro fixed those immediately with a coat of pale pink paint and purple polka dots. I liked those, and they did add to the room, but Kojiro wasn't satisfied. He was starved for a big art project after all the business courses he'd been taking and suddenly took on the look of a playboy at a single's dance as he started on the walls.

Each of the four walls sported a different mural, and each one he was very proud of. One of them was a meadow with a purple unicorn standing on its hint legs, the horn shinning in the bright sun he's painted in the corner. The next wall featured a fairy ballerina (we nicknamed her "Betty") standing on one toe with curtains and an audience behind her. He also had a wall that listed all of the letters in the English alphabet, each in a different script and color, as well as all of the numbers from one to ten. The last wall, my personal favorite, was an underwater scene with fish, coral, and a blue haired mermaid (we called her "Wilma").

Ariel was asleep. I went over to her crib, reached down to stroke her cheek, and smiled. Going into her room after work was something I did as often as I could. Now a days Kojiro put her down for the night. I wanted to see if she was awake for some odd reason so I could give her my love in person. Disappointed but still satisfied in at least seeing her, I headed off to my own room.

Our bedroom ("we" being myself and Kojiro) is simple and not much more ornate than what we had at the shelter. We each had a half of the room, mine considerably plainer than his. My walls are almost entirely bare, save a hand-print Kojiro had helped Ariel make a few weeks earlier onto a piece of construction paper and some photographs we had of her. I also had a small bookshelf with books on topics ranging from pleasure books (though you wouldn't know it, I'm addicted to Stephen King) to small collections of books on surviving horrible ordeals and even a few parenting books. Then there's my bed, a small dresser, and a laundry hamper.

Kojiro's side is lined with some cheap sketch books and a few paintings he'd done for school. The paintings varied quite a bit in style – there was one picture of an elderly couple he'd seen in the park one day, a dragon, and a few landscapes amongst others. He says one of his personal favorites was one of me he'd painted while I was sleeping on the couch one day.

That piece wasn't out – he kept it in the back of his closet. "It's not that I don't like the painting, Cye, but it creeps me out sometimes," he said. "You looked so peaceful while I was painting you until you got that pained look in your face and you started to try and throw her off of you in your sleep."

Though Kojiro was my biggest support whenever I needed help, it was no secret the rape was having a toll on him as well. Although he will never know what I went through and I hope he never does, he's involved. He's been by my side ever since it happened and only left it when his family fell apart. Outside of his job, school, and painting, he spent almost all of his left-over energy on making sure I was okay – he felt like he couldn't do anything for me and it was hurting him as well.

I know it sounds odd, but it's true. These kinds of things rarely just affect the victim – victims have friends and family who care about them and their well-being. When they find out what's happened, they get hurt, too. Why shouldn't he wish there was something he could've done to stop it? Something that could have saved me from Sheila's cold and unwanted hands? I always tell him there was nothing he could have done, and I know I'm right. How could he have known what kind of person she was? And what kind of person I was? Had someone else been with Sheila that night most of them would have had their underwear around their ankles in a second. Still, Kojiro feels there was some sort of warning sign that he missed. A predatory glance, an unwanted brush of the hand, maybe even a time he could've walked in on the two of us arguing. I know he agonizes about it inside. It bothers him, and he deals with it by talking with me.

I looked across the room to where Kojiro was sleeping. He was lying flat on his back, mouth wide-open as he snored loudly and mumbled something about spaghetti sauce in his ice cream. I shook my head and chuckled to myself – poor Kojiro. If only that were the extent of his problems, instead of dealing with me.

As I grabbed some pajamas to change into, I stared across the room at Kojiro with sad eyes. He really was a good friend. I smiled. He was dreaming about a giant ice cream sundae (or at least I'm assuming that's what it was considering the context of his sleep talking) and seemed happy as he rolled over. "Nuh uh. . . my chocko syrup. . . s'mine, I tell ya. . . go way. . . s'mine. . ." I shook my head as I headed into the bathroom.

* * *


	12. An Old Friend?

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Eleven: An Old. . . Friend?

_Narrated by. . . ?_

Taking a long drag on my cigarette, I sighed as I stared at the ceiling of my apartment from the old couch in the living room. Once again, the search had wound up completely fruitless. I was disappointed for sure, but I was more tired than anything else. _But the last thing I'm going to do is give up – I'm not going to let him hide from me forever!_

Holding my cancer stick between my fingers, I began to think about the current predicament I was in. It had been about five years since Cye Mouri had run away and disappeared from the lives of the Ronin Warriors with only one phone call declaring that he didn't want to be found. Although everyone had been upset (Kento in particular), almost everyone had respected Cye's wishes.

"He'll come home when he's good and ready to come back home," was what Mia always said, even though after five years of her saying it we all got the idea that even she didn't believe herself anymore when she said it. I laughed at the thought – she knew he wasn't coming back without someone to drag him back home.

And for the most part, we all agreed with her with smiles on our faces and other thoughts on our minds. Everyone knew that after this long he was probably dead or beyond their reach – asking for him to come back on his own now would be like asking Anubis to come back to life. Theoretically possible, but kind of unlikely.

Of course, I still needed to know what happened. Just letting it go like everyone else had didn't sit very well with me. Even if I was going to be looking at the photograph that a morgue had labeled as a John Doe and being able to identify it as Cye would be good enough for me. At the very least, it was closue. Sure it would mean a lot of hard emotions for us as we grieved for his life, but at least we'd would be able to grieve and not be left wondering constantly where he was.

Then again, I'd much have prefered to have the little fish-hugger alive so I could give him a piece of my mind. Running away like that in the middle of the night without warning – what the hell possessed him to do that! Was he that scared of his own destiny that he'd just leave his friends to deal with it? How selfish could that little brat be? How DARE he do such a thing?

"I don't get you – why do you spend so much time trying to find him, anyways?" came the voice of my crankier roommate. I heard him slam groceries down onto the kitchen counter as he continued to berate me on my happy little addicition. "And put that damn thing out, for crying out loud! Those things smell like ass and you're just going to stink up the apartment!"

"Fuck you, Cale," I said.

"Fuck yourself, Sehkment."

I put out my cigarette and sat up on the couch. "To answer your first question, it's not FAIR to me," I said. I put my feet up on the coffee table and leaned back. "Sure you and Halo don't get along too well, but you have an unsteady truce with him. Dais is freakin' best buddies with Hardrock! How the hell did they go from nearly ready to kill each other to being best of buddies, anyways!"

"How the hell should I know! They're freaks. We came back to make peace with the Ronins – not get all 'buddy-buddy' with them," Cale retorted. "And so what if you picked on Cye the most – you wailed on Wildfire a lot as well. Isn't that enough for you? He forgave you, so why do you need his forgiveness?"

"I don't care about him forgiving me!" I said.

"Then why have you spent every other weekend searching morgues, half-houses, AA meetings, and God-knows where else trying to find this stupid kid?" said Cale. He stomped into the living room, folding his arms and glaring at me. "You've having trouble coming to terms with the fact he's either dead or wants nothing to do with us anymore, aren't you?"

"Congradulations, Captain Obvious," I snapped. "Sure I picked on Ryo, but I dumped a lot of shit on that kid, too. I'm a relatively decent person now, right? But I can't move on until I burry the hatchet with him." I stood up, reaching for another cigarette in my back pocket – just to piss Cale off.

"Sehkment, you need to get over yourself. He's GONE."

"To where?"

"You're impossible!" Cale shouted, throwing his hands into the air and stomping off towards his room. I sat back down, glad that he was finally off my back for tonight. Cale could be an asshole sometimes, and tonight was clearly a night he wanted to be an asshole. I wasn't gonna stop him – I get idea the likes to be cranky, and if it makes him happy, I don't care enough to interefere.

It's strange, though. I care less about bothering a man I've known for hundreds of years than I do about some kid I beat the crap out of (and who occasionally beat the crap out of me) for a few weeks several years ago. And now I was spending a lot of time and effort into trying to find a kid that I wasn't entirely sure was even alive or in the country anymore.

Part of it is because I did want to burry that hatchet, and part of it was because I wanted to kick his ass for running away. Why? After what he's done to me, never mind how it's made Mia and the other Ronin Warriors feel, it should be obvious. My position at that time absolutely sucked. Dais and Cale had made their peace with the Ronins because their favorite punching bags hadn't vanished off the face of the Earth.

I have not.

It seems stupid when I think about it for a while. I've actually killed quite a few Ronins and God knows how many civilians when I was working for Talpa. I've done a lot of wrong in my life, but I've accepted there is nothing I can do about any of those crimes – pretty much anyone involved now is dead, anyways.

Cye is different. There's still a chance I can make peace with him.

Ever since I'd left Talpa, I'd been carrying around this weight with me – I was usually pretty depressed, started smoking, and spend a lot of time doing nothing because it'd gotten me so down. That didn't happen to Dais and Cale – they were able to start up their lives again. Dais took a sudden, strong interest in spirituality – damn hippie. Cale was an ass, but he enjoyed being an ass (which worked very well for his line of work – damn disc jockey).

Me? I was between jobs as a used car salesman and a waiter in a shifty restaurant.

My string of temporary jobs was one of the few things I found pleasure in anymore. It made me feel alive, even I was just catching crap from bad employers and moronic customers. But it all made me feel like I was alive. Like I was still a person and I wasn't fading into the background.

That's why I need to find Cye – personally, I don't care too much about him. I want to get on with my life and let everyone else around me get on with THEIR lives. Yeah, sure, Cale and Dais are doing fine (what with Dais' granola and Cale's heavy metal music commentary) but everyone else hasn't done so good.

You already know a little about Mia, but you haven't heard the last of it. She still keeps his room clean. At one point Hardrock lived there, too, but he moved into a different room after a while. None of Cye's things were disturbed, and instead of letting everything collect dust, Mia dusts the room every week – for when she thinks he's coming home.

Kento drinks to hide his pain. I guess he and Cye were pretty close, and adding to that his end of the legendary phone conversation, and you've got the perfect recipe for a kid on his way to alcoholism. I think that might be one reason Dais hangs out with him so much nowadays – he's afraid of what Kento might or might not do while intoxicated, and does everything he can to steer him away from the booze. But every once in a while we find him passed out on Mia's front lawn with a bottle of Jack Daniels and no sign of his pants.

Rowen became engrossed in his studies. Well, evidently Rowen did this a lot even before Cye ran away, but suddenly this was ALL he wanted to do. Mia said he wasn't always eating or sleeping very much. He was sick a lot and had lost a lot of weight. The kid's wasted away right before our eyes, and no one seems to be able to do anything about it. Even when they can get him away from his room, he's always carrying a text book or a calculator.

Sage didn't seem overly bothered by the whole issue – for a while he was the pillar of strength in the group, taking care of Kento when he was making offerings to the porcelin god after a bad night of drinking and always making sure Rowen was at least drinking water. Sometimes I caught him doing double takes on the street as someone who looked just a little like Cye might've passed by, but in general he was too wrapped up in affairs at home. His parents were trying to push an arranged marriage on him, and Sage wanted no part of it. Granted, I didn't blame him, but something told me something else was going on.

Ryo seemed to be doing okay until you looked closer and realized he has emotionally shut down. He never smiled. Even Kento laughed like an ass when he was shitfaced and Rowen was pleased if he did particularly well on a test, but Ryo's emotions seemed to suddenly vanish. It wasn't the depression I felt most of the time – he never got angry, never got sad, never cried, never yelled, never did anything but occasionally give an order or take an order from Mia. He just seemed to drift from one place to the next.

Yuli and White Blaze seemed to be the only ones who had a real sense of hope (though with the cat you can't tell). The boy spends a lot of time in our apartment – he talks a lot with Dais and, even though Cale denies it up and down, sometimes he plays Dance Dance Revolution with Yuli (whenever he gets caught he claims he was doing "research" for his radio show – RIGHT). Sometimes I help him with his homework – I'm not very good with providing answers, but he'll give me a stack of flash cards, so I have the answer on the back. He's a pretty smart kid, actually.

The only other person left is Kayura. Kayura lives in Mia's basement, which Rowen refers to as a "mother in law" apartment, in exchange for helping Mia with her research on the Ancient's Clan. This mostly occured after school, as Kayura had decided to start attending high school. None of us was sure how the hell she planned to do it – unlike me and the other Warlords, she'd been virtually unconcious for a few hundred years – she had a lot of catching up to do with the world.

Damn her – she's tenth in her class right now.

Everyone has been dealing with Cye's disappearence in their own way, but I can't understand why none of them are doing anything about it. I would've thought Kayura could lock onto his armor orbe's location or something using her staff, but she refuses to use her powers to do it. This is an arguement we've had countless times.

I personally prefered my stance of dragging his sorry ass back home.

Kayura had a different opinion on the matter: according to the Tao of Kayura, the armor bearers can only be called by the Ancient One if a) the Dynasty is going to attack or b) an extreme emergency shows its head within the Mortal Realm. She said she didn't like everyone's glum mood, bit it was not an international crisis and she could not abuse the power of the Ancient's Staff.

I told her where she could shove the staff and she hit me with it.

It really hurt.

Point is, though, I was alone in my quest.

And as I was lying there on the couch, a thought occured to me. "Cale, did you put any of the groceries away?"

"What do you care? If it goes bad it won't affect you!"

"Well, yeah, but it still tastes nasty!" I yelled back, getting up to put the food away. I grunted at him, although by this point he was already playing music too loud for him to hear me. Fine by me. Let him be an asshole. So now it was my job to clean up after Cale. Perfect.

As I put the milk in the fridge, I heard Dais come in – this was pronounced by the slapping sound of his thong sandels hitting the bottoms of his feet with each step he took. He closed the door behind him, waved kindly at me, and proceeded to help me put the groceries away. "So, did you have a good day? I think I reached a new level of inner peace at the homeless shelter today."

"That's nice," I said.

Dais nodded. "You don't care, do you?"

"Nope. Not really."

Dais shrugged. "That's okay. It's your perogative." He started to pick through the bag. "I thought Cale was doing the shopping this week – why are you putting the food away? Ah, my pita bread! Did he get the hummus, too?" Putting his hippie food on the counter, he continued to help me.

"Cale did the shopping but, because he's Cale, decided to let me put the food away," I said. "Evidently being resistant to poisons makes me the person most responsible for keeping the food from going bad. And that is why you and I are putting the groceries away and Cale is in his room not putting away the groceries."

Dais sighed. "You know, you should try looking into spirituality – just going vegetarian has made me feel a lot better! I figure that with all the people I've killed, all the animals I'm saving by not eating meat, well, maybe it'll build up some good karma for me in the future, you know?"

"The farm equipment that reaps the wheat for your pita bread probably shredded a few hundred field mice in the process," I said nonchalantly. Dais' face took on an interesting expression I'd never seen before. "Discovery Channel. You should watch it once in a while."

"I hate you sometimes," he said.

"Isn't hating frowned apon amongst the tree-huggers?"

"I'll shove a tree up your ass if you don't quit it – then I'll plant three more from its seeds to make up for its lost life," he said with a grin. He opened the jar of hummus and began to search for a butter knife. "You know, maybe you should take this weekend off."

"But I'm not working right now," I said.

"You know what I mean," said Dais. "You've been getting snippier than usual, and I'm guessing that it's because you spend so much time looking for Cye. I know it's important to you, but damn it you're getting a little cranky as of late. Take the weekend and do something fun for a change."

"He won't get found that way," I said.

"He won't get found at all if you run yourself into the ground," said Dais. He cleared his throat and dangeled a piece of paper in front of my eyes. "I know how much you love that American band Duran Duran. Here is a ticket to their show in Tokyo this coming weekend. Now, I know that there's no way I can stop you from looking at all while you're down there, but I know you'll be too hungry like the wolf to ignore this seat."

I was staring at the magical ticket of happiness before me. "That was a horrible pun," I managed to say as I snatched the picket. "And for the record, they're British." But I don't think I cared at that point. The idea of seeing my favorite musical group live in concert – third row from the front center no less – was dominating my train of thought.

_Fuck you, Cye – I'm going to see Duran Duran this weekend!

* * *

_

The first night of my weekend was good. I had dinner at a nice restaurant and knocked back half a bottle of sake (I can't get drunk, but I've always enjoyed the taste). At the concert, the band started with "The Union of the Snake", my favorite song. The sound was deafeningly loud and the light show was crazy – a total sensory overload when combined with screaming women and the blaring of musical instruments. After that, I went back to my hotel with two hot girls for a little _monage a trois_.

It was a much needed vacation.

I didn't feel entirely better, but letting loose for a weekend was a great change of pace. At the very least I felt a little alive for an entire evening. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I got up with a half-naked girl on either side and memories from the previous night still floating around in my head.

Once the girls left me with their numbers, I decided to spend another day in Tokyo – Dais and Cale could survive one day without me, for sure. Maybe. Even if they couldn't, it wasn't really my problem. They could call my cell phone if they really needed me. I would probably ignore them anyways, but the phone was on and fully charged.

So I found myself a nice patch of grass in the middle of a small park, laid myself down, and starred up the sky. A lot of people were out and about that day – there was a bunch of kids and their parents on a jungle gym, a few teenagers with blankets and packed lunches, and an old man playing frisbee with his dog (although this "old" man was probably young enough to be my great-something grandson).

Before I got a chance to drift off I felt something land on my stomache. My eyes snapped open in surprise as I sat up, surprised to see a child's ball sitting by my side. I crossed my legs and examined the bright blue and pink ball, wondering how it got over to where I sat.

_Well duh – some idiot kids probably didn't look where they were throwing, that's all,_ I reasoned. I'd give the little brat a piece of my mind when they came over to get their stupid ball. Holding the ball in my hand, I considered throwing it back at them, but you never know what parent I might piss off. Not that I really cared (if it came to blows, I would win) but I just didn't want to bother with it.

Before I could entertain the thought further, a small girl was already sitting by me. I turned to look at her and was a bit surprised at her straight-forwardness. But here she was, staring right at me with big green eyes and red hair. She was pouting and looking at the ball. "I'm really sorry, sir – I don't think my Daddy and I meaned to hit you with the ball."

"Um, that's all right," I said. I didn't feel like giving her sass – she was really little and little kids cry pretty loudly. I hate screaming kids, so pissing her off seemed like a bad idea. I reached back to get the ball. "Just be more careful next time, okay? If you're not careful you might get someone hurt."

"Nu-uh!" she said. "I'm gonna be WAY more careful next time!"

"Ariel, leave that man alone – SEHKMENT!"

I looked up and almost had kittens. The man standing above the little girl was none other than Cye of the Torrent staring back at me in surprise. He was older than when I last saw him, wasn't wearing any armor, and certainly seemed a bit more mature than the last time I saw him but it was definitely him.

I was at a sudden loss for words. He was HERE! In the PARK? I spent how many years searching phone books, computer directories, morgues, and homeless shelters all over Japan and the best way to find him was to take a nap in the middle of a park! _Son of a bitch – the first day I actively decide to NOT look for Cye he practically falls into my lap. _

The two of us stared at each other in disbelief for a solid minute, the little girl looking at the two of us in confusion. She had taken her ball back, waiting patiently for an explanation to Cye's sudden outburst and my loss of words. But so far, neither one of us was saying a damn thing.

Cye cleared his throat. "It's, um, been a long time," he said.

That was what finally gave me the words to speak. "You mean to tell me that you've been gone for five years and that's ALL you have to say for yourself? Where the HELL have you been?" I demanded. I folded my arms and gave him a cold glare. "Do you have ANY idea how-"

"Daddy, who is this man?" the little girl asked, tugging at Cye's jeans.

Those five worlds halted my question – well, rather, just the first one did. Suddenly I forgot about everything going on back in Toyama and how everyone felt. Cye looked at me in confusion, unable to say anything as he just stared between me and the little girl who looked far too much like him to not be his daughter.

"Wait a second – you have a kid?" I asked.

Cye swallowed. "Um. . . yes," he said. "I. . . dear God I didn't think this would happen today," he said quietly. He started to shuffle his feet on the ground, holding his daughter's hand. She looked pretty confused, looking constantly between me and Cye as if one of us would magically produce an answer that made sense.

I wasn't sure what to do myself. Any plans I previously had for kicking his ass or yelling and screaming at him or who knows what else were down the drain. Was this why Cye ran away? Because he didn't want the other Ronins to know about his child? She was definitely old enough to have been born around or after he left, and it would explain a lot. But there were still some missing pieces of the puzzle. Where did she come from? Why hadn't Cye let the other Ronins know about something this important?

I cleared my throat. "I think we have some catching up to do," I said.


	13. Confessional

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy

Chapter Twelve: Confessional

(Sehkment)

Cye invited me back to his apartment for our special little "talk". It wasn't a bad apartment – it was in slight chaos from children's toys and books, but otherwise was kept decently neat and tidy. Somehow, it seemed to fit Cye's personality. Everything just seemed comfortable and homey, even though things between the two of us were about as comfortable as an elephant in an elevator.

The two of us sat down on his couch while Ariel went into her bedroom at Cye's request. That was odd for sure – he didn't want Ariel to hear this conversation, whatever it was. We each had a drink – Cye had tea, I had black coffee. And for the first several minutes, we just sat their slowly sipping our beverages, waiting for the other to speak first.

I got sick of the silence first. "Okay. What happened?" I asked. "Mia told me and the other Warlords that one night you went out for a walk and never came back, then called Kento a few days later and refused to tell him anything. No one's heard from you since then and everyone's still worried sick."

"Do they still think about me that much?" he asked.

"Yeah, kind of," I said. "They don't actively talk about it – at least not while I'm around – but it's clear that they're all being bothered by something and my money is on you. Personally, I've spent a lot of weekends trying to track you down – it's kinda stupid that I take this weekend off from my search and suddenly you appear out of no where with a kid."

"You've been looking for me?" Cye seemed surprised by this.

"Yes, and I will say this – things would have gone done VERY differently if that kid wasn't there," I said. "Things back in Toyama aren't exactly happy bunnies and sugar songs for everyone – Kento's an alcoholic, Rowen is a workaholic, Ryo has emotionally shut down and Mia compulsively dusts your room at least every other week. Sage WAS the only one with a level head, but recently he's been a little jumpy and stressed out, too."

Cye didn't say anything, taking in the information of how badly his friends had been doing. He had his hands on his knees, the fabric clenched in his fist. "I didn't think they'd take it this badly," he said softly. He sighed heavily, tilting his head to one side. "I guess I thought this would make things easier, but I see it didn't."

"So it was Ariel that made you run away," I said.

"Kind of," he said. He seemed really nervous now, and I knew that whatever made him run away was suddenly a lot more complicated than just having a child at such a young age – according to the laws of mathematics, Cye was just sixteen when his five year old daughter was born – which meant she'd been born right around the time he left. "I don't suppose the others told you about a girl I was dating several months before I ran away, did they?"

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember, then nodded. "Some Irish girl – really hot, named Sheryl or Shelly or something like that. They mentioned she kind of dropped off the face of the Earth shortly after you two broke up. But that was months before you ran off – what did she have to do with any of this?" Then I slapped my forehead. Had Ariel been born right when Cye left, of COURSE he would have had to have knocked the girl up nine months earlier. Duh. "Never mind – duh. She's Ariel's mother, isn't she?"

"Technically, yes," he said. At this point he had curled up into a ball on the couch, burrying his face in his knees. "I never told the others about what happened between us, and then when I ran into Sheila that night with the baby. . . I panicked and ran away. I didn't want them to know the whole truth about what happened to me before we broke up."

I closed my eyes. "So what? You had sex with your girlfriend and she got pregnant – things happen and we all have to deal with it," I said. Cye shuddered and for a second I thought he started to cry. "Did I say something wrong?" Cye shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head more vigorously. I felt a sickening feeling in my stomache. "Cye. . . what happened?"

"It wasn't consensual," he said. "I didn't want them to know that she took advantage of me." By now he was refusing to look at me, and I watched as his eyes tok a sudden, distant look. Monotonously, he droned on. "I told her no. I said no. She wouldn't listen. But I couldn't convince her otherwise, and so she. . ."

I just about shit a brick at that moment. It was about the fifth or sixth one that afternoon. The shock was overwhelming – how could this happen to him? Why? After all he'd done to save the world. . . to save her sorry ass. . . and this is the way the world thanks him for nearly getting himself killed before he was even old enough to drive? "She. . . raped you?" I said.

Cye nodded. "Please don't laugh at me."

NOW what was I going to do? At least everything made sense now – Cye didn't tell anyone about his girlfriend raping him, and then when he finds out he got her pregnant he's either forced to tell his friends about it or run away. "Is it still bothering you?" I asked, innocently enough. "I mean, it was years ago and - "

"Yes it still bothers me," Cye said through clenched teeth. He glared at me, his eyes slightly red but his voice was unwavering despite the tears. Now it was my turn to be a little scared. "I have exactly two kinds of dreams – one kind of dream is focused on the time YOU kidnapped me and had me tortured, and the other dream is about the rape. THAT is how much it still bothers me and you know what? I've been to support groups and pyschiatrists and they've all told me the same thing – I may NEVER be 'over it' for the rest of my life."

"All right, you're not over it, I get it," I said, holding up my hands in defense.

"No, no you don't," he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "I don't know what you do with women but you do NOT want someone else telling you what to do with your body. You don't want someone holding you down and tying you up and forcing their hand over your mouth so the neighbors can't hear your scream. You don't know what it's like to have someone do things to your body because they know it hurts you – I was hit, scratched, had my hair pulled, and God knows how much else I've forgotten because my memory refuses to acknowledge it's even happened to me."

Part of me knew I should have reached out to him, but I didn't dare. I wasn't sure what kind of impression I wanted to send to him. "Cye. . . your friends would have helped you. I don't know what you think they would've done, but they do care about you. I think they might be a little angry at first when you see them again, but they're your friends. Hell, I know they're forgiving – Dais, Cale and I wouldn't be able to live in Toyama if it weren't for that. But the only thing you have to apologize for is running away – the rest of it wasn't your fault."

"But I-"

"Whatever it is, NO," I said.

"You sound just like Kojiro."

"Who's Kojiro?"

"A friend of ours – Ryo and the others know him, too. He found me the night of the rape after I managed to escape from her – I nearly got hit by a truck or a bus or something – I don't even remember what it was. But he brought me back to his house that night and took care of me. He said a lot of the same stuff, but didn't push it when I didn't want to call the police or tell the others. The only thing he forced me to do was visit the clinic to make sure she didn't give me AIDS or something."

I sighed. "What makes you think they'll react so harshly to you?"

Cye suddenly snapped to his feet and started pacing. "I'm a Ronin Warrior! I'm supposed to be strong and powerful! You know that – how many times did we fight? And yet I couldn't fight off a normal human girl – I couldn't get her off me! I barely got away! What happened all those years ago shouldn't have happened!" He stopped, shaking his head. "Besides, if they knew what had happened they'd never look at me the same way again. I'm the youngest, and even though I'm not that much younger there was always this sense that I had to be 'protected'. I didn't like that, and if I told them about it then what? I probably wouldn't have been allowed to do anything ever again because they'd be so worried I'd get hurt again and I didn't want that."

"What if I told you I'd kick the ass of anyone who tried to stomp on your independence? Would you come home then?" I asked. Cye stared at me in surprise, but shook his head. "Cye, look – these people have fallen apart since you left. They need you – you're part of us."

Cye sat back down. "But now it's more than that," he said. "Sehkment, what about Ariel?"

"She's a cute kid – she'll have everyone but me wrapped around her little finger within a week. I don't see where she's going to have a problem adapting, but then again I don't know her like you do. But she seems friendly enough," I said. "What's the problem with Ariel?"

"What if we get attacked again?" he said. "What if Ariel gets hurt?"

"What if you get attacked out here by yourself? Then what?" I said. Cye didn't look at me. "If the others at least know where you are they can come and help you. You're a sitting duck out here all by yourself. Look, I totally understand that you want to protect your daughter but this is not the best way to do it."

Cye wouldn't answer me – he turned away. "They're all really strong – I'm the one who couldn't even fight off his own stupid girlfriend. What good would taking me out be? They'd want the Inferno and the Soul Swords first. And Rowen, Sage, and Kento are all really experienced and good at fighting – I barely train anymore."

"Okay, someone was not listening to the earlier part of the conversation," I said. "Ryo has no emotions – ever. He does not smile. He does not frown. He does not laugh, get angry, cry, or show any signs of human emotion. I have never seen anyone THAT emotionless before and quite frankly it scares me."

Cye stared at me in confusion. "Ryo's lost his emotions?"

"And that's not all. Rowen, whom I remember as being a little skinny, has lost a good ten or so kilograms over the past few years. He isn't anorexic – yet – but the only thing he wants to do is study. No sleep. No food. Sage has actually taken him to the hospital twice from malnutrition."

"Oh God," he said.

"Kento drinks alcohol like water," I said. "And he talks about you CONSTANTLY. ESPECIALLY when he's drunk. Mia and everyone else has been trying to convince him to go to an AA meeting but he insists he doesn't have a problem while he's mixing in extracts to his alcohol just to get a stronger buzz. He's gone to the hospital to get his stomach pumped a couple of times as well."

"Kento. . ."

"I don't know what the hell is going on with Sage. For a while he was the only thing holding that entire group together, although on occasion Yuli or someone else caught him sitting in your room on your old bed in silent meditation, but apparently after five years he can't take it anymore because that guy is BEYOND stressed out right now. It's probably because his parents are trying to force him into an arranged marriage he wants no part of and he can't handle keeping his crazy little friends together AND handle that at the same time," I said. "Shall I go onto Mia next?"

"No. . . now I don't know what I should do."

"It's quite simple, really. You can either go home and tell them what happened so they can get back to normal and make everyone happy, or else I kick your ass. I think it's a fairly simple equation, don't you think? Go home to safety, get ass kicked. Go home to safety, get ass kicked," I said, weighing out of the two options with my hands.

Cye glared at me. "Look – it's not that simple! I've been trying to move past this and get on with my! I'm not the same person I was six years ago! I have a kid now! Even if you say that being with the others will protect her, that's not the kind of parent I want her to grow up with."

I cleared my throat. Time for Plan B. "Cye, is Ariel in preschool or daycare?"

Now the bearer of Torrent was more than a little confused. "What?"

"You know – preschool, day care, large gatherings of small children?" I asked.

Cye nodded. "The college I went to had a day care for students with small children – I think it was supposed to help the students who wanted to go into education more than help students like me, but yes. That ended when I graduated, though, because I work at home so I don't need it."

I nodded. "Excellent. Now, did Ariel ever get into any trouble with the other kids?"

Cye groaned and put his hand on his forehead. "Once, she and another little girl spilled paint all over a little boy's brand new shirt. This was the son of one of the professors, and that woman was beside herself with anger – I guess she saw the whole thing and yelled at Ariel and the other girl. One of the attendants told me what happened when my last class of the day was over – it was an accident, but I wasn't too happy about it."

"What did you do?"

"I don't see the point in this, but I told Ariel she needed to apologize to the little boy. So the next day, I dropped her off around the same time the little boy was to be dropped off. I was holding her hand, but she got away from me when she saw them – she ran right up to them and said she was very sorry about what happened," he said. He laughed. "Then she gave the professor a piece of construction paper she's scribbled on and said it was for her. I was actually quite proud of her."

"There's the rub," I said.

"I don't get it."

"Cye, you're a parent now. It's your job to show her right from wrong, responsibility, and all that other parenty stuff. If you run away from your responsibilities as a Ronin, even though you damn well KNOW what kind of trouble we'll all be in without your help. . . what's that going to teach her? That it's okay to not do something just because you don't want to?" I said.

Before he could answer, we heard the pitter-patter of running feet towards the living room. Ariel was carrying a bright pink piece of construction paper with what looked like a green hedgehog on the front. "Mr. Sehkment!" she said, stopping in front of me. Proudly, she shoved the paper towards me. "I'm sorry I hit you with the ball today but I'm happy you and Daddy are still friends. Here – it's a picture of you."

Cye coughed, covering the smile crossing his lips as he started to chuckle. I stared down the picture, trying to dechiper exactly how that picture translated into a portrait of me. Ariel looked up at me hopefully, smiling brightly as she waited for me to take it. "I, um, well, thank. . . you?" I said.

"You're welcome! Daddy says that if you do something to someone that isn't very nice you should apologize – I like to draw people pictures. And see? There's a kitty in the corner, too! And that's the sun, and that's the sky and that's a tree and that's. . ." I didn't really pay attention to rest of what she was saying – I was caught between trying to figure out why the sun was on the ground and the kitty was flying through the air while watching for Cye's reaction.

"I think she likes you," Cye managed to say.

I wanted to respond with a "fuck you" but decided against it. _Damn brat_.

Cye picked up Ariel, who shrieked when he flipped her upside down, kicking her legs in protest. I couldn't figure out why he did that until I realized he was saving me from her string of babble – now she was a bit preoccupied with being upside down and less concerned about explaining her scribbles to me. "Put me down! My hair's falling down! DAD-DY!" she shrieked. Cye laughed, putting her down and kneeling down to her level. He looked up at me, then turned back to Ariel.

"Ariel. . . Sehkment is an old. . . friend. . . of mine," he said. "Friend" came out a little forced, and I don't blame him. We weren't exactly on the greatest of speaking terms while I was fighting for Talpa and he was fighting against Talpa. But, chances we, that was the best phrase he could use when conversing with a five year old.

"Uh huh," she said.

"Well. . . I knew him long before you were born. And. . . I have other friends like him that I haven't seen in a very long time, either," he said. My eyes lit up – was he actually going to try and come home? I crossed my arms, waiting to hear the rest of his sentence.

"So why haven't any of them come over to play before this?" she asked.

_Hmm. I could use this to my advantage,_ I thought. "Well, Ariel, because your Dad here is afraid of what they're all going to say to him after all this time. It wasn't very nice of him to not talk with them for so long and he's hurt all of their feelings, so he doesn't want to go back because they're all going to be mad at him."

Although Cye did not look at me, I could tell he was holding back an insult or an outburst – which I wasn't sure, but damn the look on his face was well worth it. _Damn it, where's a camera when I need one?_ Now it was time to sit back and watch Ariel do all the work for me.

I'd still kick his ass later, but somehow the kid was going to be a whole lot better at convincing Cye to come home than I ever could. I was the fisherman, he was the fish, and Ariel was the shiny plastic lure that this sea bass could not resist. Oh yes. He was coming home.

"Daddy!" she said. "It's not nice to hurt people's feelings!"

Cye concened. "No, no it's not. You're right, Ariel."

Game. Set. And match.

I stood up, grinning at Cye. "Well? What next?"

Torrent stood, lowered his head, and closed his eyes. "Give me one day to figure out a few details, like how long we'll be staying, where we'll be staying, and what I'm going to say when I walk through that door. If this is going to be an overnight expedition I need to pack clothing for both myself and Ariel-"

"WE'RE HAVING A SLEEP-OVER?"

"Ariel, calm down for a second, the grown-ups are talking, all right?" he said, turning to Ariel. Ariel nodded enthusiastically, making a bee-line for her bedroom. Cye looked up at me. "She's going to try and stuff all of her toys into one bag and forget that she needs to wear clothes – she does this everytime she gets the idea of 'sleep-over' in her head. But as I was saying, you need to give me at least a day."

"You've had five years."

"So what difference will a day make?" he said.

I sighed. "Fine. Whatevever – BUT I need to let someone know you're coming to Toyama tomorrow. I'm assuming you and Ariel are going to need a place to sleep?" I asked. Cye stared at me funny, like he wasn't sure what to say. "I'll be nice – you can stay with me and the other Warlords at our apartment tomorrow – just be warned that Cale is a complete dick and Dais is Super Tree Hugger Vegan Bullshit Man. Will that work?"

Cye shook his head. "That's. . . not necessary," he said.

"I also get the idea you don't want Ariel to know exactly how she came into this world, am I right?" I said. Cye nodded slowly. "So at least someone back there needs to know where she came from, otherwise you're going to have to tell them what happened in front of her."

Cye shuddered. "Over the phone?"

"What choice do we have? Unless you have someone you could leave her with for a couple of days on short notice," I said. I sighed. "I get that your situation is at best 'special' and it's not like I can just throw you in the trunk of my car and floor it back to Toyama. I don't claim to be an angel but I've cleaned up enough that I know leaving the kid by herself is not a good idea."

"I appreciate that. . . I'm just trying to figure out who the best person to talk to would be," he said.

"Kayura or Mia – girls are better at the mushy emotional stuff," I suggested. "And with both you get the added benefit of violence if anyone talks back against you! Mia doesn't look it, but she's got a really mean left hook. Kayura launches herself at anyone who pisses her off – no one can get her off, either. Even Hardrock."

"I guess one of them is all right," he said. "But I don't want my friends to get hurt on my account – even if you think it's for my benefit." He sighed. "You say Mia's a bit crazy over my disappearance, too, right?" I nodded. "Then I guess we're going with Kayura."

I nodded and pulled out my phone. "I'm going to start the call, but YOU'RE going to finish it. Okay?" Cye nodded and I flipped my phone open, glancing at my menu in bewilderment. "Hello – twenty-three missed calls in one day? How the hell did I manage that?"

"Was your phone on?" Cye asked.

"Well. . . I turned it on silence after running into you. . . but these are all from Kayura's cell phone," I said. I gulped. "Didn't leave a message – that's not good." I hit her speed-dial number and pressed the phone to my ear. Cye looked on in worry, wringing his hands together.

Ring one.

Ring two.

"SEHKMENT WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? I HAVE SPENT THE LAST TWO HOURS TRYING TO GET A HOLD OF YOU AND I SWEAR TO THE ANCIENT AND ANUBIS THAT IF YOU TURNED OFF YOUR PHONE BECAUSE YOU'VE DECIDED TO HAVE A GIRL IN YOUR DAMN HOTEL ROOM I'M GOING TO THROTTLE YOU SO BADLY-"

"I LOVE YOU, TOO, KAYURA!" I shouted back. "Listen, I'm sorry my phone was off but I swear I had a good reason!"

"Ohhhhh, it BETTER be a good reason!" she snapped. "Get your ass home THIS MINUTE! We're under attack!"

"Oh shit," I said, turning to Cye. "We're in trouble."


	14. Hitting the Fan

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Thirteen: Hitting the Fan

Of course, as far as I was concerned, Sehkment showing up PERIOD was trouble. Of all the people who could have possibly found me after all this time and found out about Ariel, why did it have to be Sehkment? Why not. . . well. . . not-Sehkment? Even if Cale was a jerk like Sehkment implied, he was still not-Sehkment. And I could definitely handle Kayura or "Super Tree Hugger Vegan Bullshit Man".

But why Sehkment?

Of course, my interest wasn't so much why Sehkment was in my living room, but rather why he and Kayura had begun some kind of shouting match over his cell phone loud enough that Ariel came out of her room to investigate. She tugged on my hand. "Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Why is he yelling?"

"I'm not quite sure."

Sehkment looked at his cellphone. "She. . . hung up."

I looked down at Ariel. "Um. . ."

My old rival stepped forward and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Look, I don't know all the details, kid, but we gotta get going. Something's come up – a pretty big something from what I can tell, and we're going to need your dad back in Toyama. RIGHT NOW," said Sehkment.

"Why?" asked Ariel.

I looked around my apartment, then nodded to Sehkment. "All right, but I don'tthink Ariel should get involved in this. Let me get a hold of Kojiro so he can keep an eye on Ariel first, all right?" I asked, heading for the phone. I turned to my former enemy and my daughter, who looked very confused and ready to follow me. "Sehkment, could you keep an eye on Ariel for a few minutes? Ariel, why don't you show Sehkment some of your toys?"

"Okay, Daddy. . ." Ariel looked a little confused, but ready to comply.

Sehkment, on the other hand, did not look as ready to cooperate. He had an angry look on his face and he was grumbling as Ariel took his hand and started to drag him towards a small collection of her toys by the television. "What the-?! Since when did I suddenly become your personal babysitter?!"

"PLEASE?!"

"Okay, okay!"

I ducked into my bedroom and began to furiously dial Kojiro's number. I drummed my fingers on my bureau, then started looking for paper and a pen. _If something happens to me. . . I don't want to have to write this, but what choice do I have?_ Just as I found an old notebook from high school, Kojiro picked up.

"Hello?"

"Kojiro, I need you to do a favor for-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

I dropped the phone at the sound of Ariel screaming and darted out of my room to see a giant ogre-like monster standing in my living room. It was about eight feet tall, dark grey – kind of like soot – and didn't look like it was over for an afternoon tea. Admittedly, I screamed as well.

Sehkment was already in subarmor and standing between my daughter and the monster. The ogre had tried punching him, but Sehkment had stopped the punch with his hands – he was not going to be able to hold it off on his own for long, though, especially since he had pushed him back a little bit. Understandably, Ariel was crying. "Cye! Now! Help me out here!"

"Right!" I said. The ogre looked at me and grunted, tossing Sehkment aside like a rag doll into a corner with Ariel's toys. It (thankfully) ignored Ariel and started to move towards me. I started to move back towards the drawer I kept my armor orb in – I was going to have to fight this thing.

Especially if that THING thinks it's going to get anywhere near my kid!

I slowly opened the drawer and started to feel around for the armor orb, never taking my eyes off the monster. The monster stopped short before me, bending close to my face and breathing in my face. I gagged – his breath smelled like rotting meat. It stayed there for a minute as my hand blindly fumbled around, looking for the armor orbe. Amazingly, I felt it roll right into my hand.

I grinned, closed my eyes, and kicked.

The ogre let out a yelp and flew backwards into the next wall, taking several books out with it. By now Sehkment was up again, and I was transforming into my subarmor. I stood next to the former Dark Warlord, and the two of us stared the monster down. "What is this thing?" I asked. "Is this what Kayura called you about?"

"I don't know," said Sehkment.

"Thanks for your help."

"Hey! I don't know EVERY monster in the book like the back of my hand!"

"DADDY!"

Ariel's scream gave me just enough time to see the punch coming – the two of us ducked and tripped the ogre, sending him to the floor. "We are not going to be able to keep up this fight in here! The kid's gonna get hurt and there's barely enough room to move around!" said Sehkment. "Sorry about the kid but I think she's going to have to come with us – at least she'll be safer in Toyama."

I closed my eyes. "Well, I guess we're going to have to leave, now aren't we?"

Sehkment nodded. "Get to the door, grab the kid, armor down, and run."

"My thoughts exactly." I armored down, extending my hand to Ariel. "Ariel. . . we're leaving now."

Seeming to understand that the big scary monster was, well, a big scary monster, Ariel nodded and took my hand as the three of us back towards the door. I squeezed her hand, bending down to pick her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck, shaking and trembling as she cried and I patted her on the back. "It'll be okay – I'll get us out of here, just trust me, all right?" I said quietly. Ariel whimpered in response, burying her head into my shoulder. I could feel a slight nod – of course she trusted me. Still, I felt a pit in my stomach – monster or not, I could feel my parental instinct kicking in. She did NOT need this kind of trauma as a five year old kid. I needed to protect her.

Sehkment was still in armor. "I'll head out after you get the kid out, all right?" I nodded, grabbing the door handle. Ariel clenched tighter, and I swallowed, watching the monster and Sehkment as best I could. "On the count of three, you need to move, all right?" I nodded, and Sehkment turned to me and grinned.

"THREE!"

Both of us darted out of the apartment, the ogre crying out in anger as he bashed the door down. Ariel was no longer screaming, but clearing terrified as we ran towards the stairs. "Your landlord is not going to be happy with you, is he?!" Sehkment asked, reaching the door before I did.

"You're telling me!"

The two of us barreled down the stairs, me trying to make sure I didn't fall over and hurt Ariel and Sehkment was looking back for the ogre. I could still hear the monster behind us, and Sehkment could probably see it from the look in his eyes. "Ah shit, it's following us!"

"STILL!?"

"My car is outside – I'll get her started!" Sehkment had his keys in hand and was furiously pressing buttons. "She should be started and the top should be down when we get out of here. We'll have to worry about seatbelts later because we need to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CITY RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!"

I glared at Sehkment and started to yell back. "I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION AND THERE'S A GIANT OGRE CHASING US BUT CAN YOU PLEASE TRY TO NOT SWEAR AROUND MY DAUGHTER? SHE'S ONLY-"

"NOT NOW!"

We flew out of the building and started running towards Sehkment's car, which was a dark green convertible. Sehkment effortlessly leapt into the front seat and jammed his keys into the ignition – I took the extra moment to open the door and usher Ariel inside. Once the door was closed, Sehkment floored the car and I dove over Ariel in protection.

And the ogre had still not given up.

"WHAT THE HELL DO WE HAVE TO DO TO LOOSE THIS THING!?" asked Sehkment. His eyes were on the rearview mirror, and sure enough, the ogre was now chasing us out of the parking lot. "IT WON'T GIVE UP! THE SON OF A BITCH WON'T GIVE UP!"

Now that we were on a straight stretch of road, I was buckling Ariel into a seat. Seeing as Sehkment was too busy driving, and Ariel was only five, I realized there was only one thing to do. I was the one who had to stop the ogre to get us back to Toyama safely and protect my daughter.

And Sehkment.

"Sehkment! Keep driving!"

"Really? I wasn't sure," said Sehkment. "NO SHIT SHERLOCK! OF COURSE I'M GOING TO KEEP DRIVING! WE'VE GOT A LARGE BEAST WITH A CASE OF THE UGLIES BEHIND US AND I'M NOT ABOUT TO STOP AND ASK IT FOR DIRECTIONS!"

"I'm going to try and attack it from here!"

"ARE YOU INSANE!?"

"DO WE HAVE A CHOICE!?"

Sehkment stopped arguing and continued to drive. I know what I was doing was quite stupid, but the ogre was gaining on us (that thing was FAST!) and we were going to have to stand our ground at some point. And I was choosing now – we needed to get rid of it as soon as possible, especially if we were heading for Toyama.

I got back into subarmor and braced myself against the back of Sehkment's seat. From here, I had to get into the Armor of the Torrent (and pray for luck) for my plan to work. I looked over at Ariel and smiled. "Just sit tight and be a brave girl for me, okay?" Ariel nodded, wiping away a tear. "I'm about to have another magical armor on top of this one, and then I'm going to make that ogre go away."

"Okay, Daddy," she said.

"Cye? You're an idiot."

"Tell me about it."

I concentrated. "Armor of the Torrent. . . DAO SHIN!"

Once I was fully clad in the Armor of the Torrent, Ariel was dumbfounded. "Wow!" she said. "How did you do that? Are you like Sailor Moon, Daddy?" I wasn't sure how to respond to the "Sailor Moon" part, but Sehkment seemed to think it was funny.

"If you weren't driving, I'd probably poke you with this," I said.

"Nah, I'm growing on you."

I ignored Sehkment for a little longer and pointed my weapon at the ogre. I could feel a drop of sweat drip down the side of my face – my plan was INCREDIBLY risky. "Okay Sehkment, if my plan works, there's a good chance the car is going to fly forward very, very quickly, and you need to stay in control of the car, all right? That's all you need to do. Do you understand?"

It took my former rival a minute to figure out what my plan was, but sure enough, realization eventually dawned on him – or perhaps hit him over the head like a sack of potatoes. And he was not happy with the plan at all. "Why would. . . I'm driving the car already. . . and. . . YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO **THAT**! I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR KID BEING HERE BUT THAT IS THE FUCKING WORST IDEA I HAVE EVER HEARD! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED YOU MORON! HOW CAN YOU THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA!? PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

"Sorry, Sehkment, but that's the plan," I said. I tried to focus my weapon on the ogre, steadying myself. I didn't need to be THAT precise, but the closer I was to a direct hit, the better off we'd all be. "You wouldn't have bought this car if you didn't want a LITTLE excitement."

"Cye? Just wanted to let you know that I'm not happy with you right now."

"Daddy, what are you going to do that's making Mr. Sehkment mad?"

"You'll see." The ogre was gaining on us, but I wanted to time my plan just right. We needed to make sure it was dead or far enough away from us that it wouldn't be able to catch up again. I tried to keep my yari steady, but I could feel my hands shaking. "C'mon, ugly, just a little closer. . . little closer. . ."

There it was. The perfect range.

"All right, ugly! EAT THIS!"

"Oh God. . ."

"SUPER. . ."

"Ariel, brace yourself!"

". . . WAVE. . ."

"YOUR FATHER IS AN IDIOT!"

". . . SMASHER!!!"

"I NEVER SAW PARIS!"

The next few moments were a blur, but this is what happened, more or less. One: Our ugly ogre adversary received a Super Wave Smasher at point blank range – I'm not convinced he survived. Two: The force of the Super Wave Smasher, thanks to the laws of physics, propelled the car forward – quite quickly, and rather unsafely.

I dropped my yari to clutch the underside of the seat as the world outside of the car seemed to blur into a streak of colors and sounds. Ariel was screaming, Sehkment was panicking (but still doing a wonderful job at keeping the car from crashing), and I was definitely not wearing a seatbelt. But once the car started to slow down, I dismissed my armors, sat comfortable next to Ariel, and buckled in.

Once Sehkment had calmed down a bit, he cleared his throat. "Cye?"

"Yes, Sehkment?" I asked.

"Do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

I could see him grinning through the rear view mirror as he put on a pair of sunglasses and started to laugh. "Whatever happens next, if we both survive what's going on down in Toyama. . . you gotta promise me that you'll do that to Cale sometime, okay?"

Author's notes

That's right. That ogre got a point blank Super Wave Smasher. I'm about 90 sure some of this idea had to have come from either Final Fantasy 7 or watching Grindhouse (which is an amazing pair of movies). If anyone's seen that film, know that I loved the last twenty minutes or so of the second movie. That said, this is one of the most satisfying scenes I've written in a while.

Fun note: It's been so long since I've done an armor up scene that I had to look up Cye's battle cry.

For those of you who got two e-mails about this update, I have to apologize - there was a formating issue that needed to be fixed.

Dixxy


	15. Missing Comrades

End of Innocence v2.0

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Fourteen: Missing Comrades

I felt a lump hit my stomach as Sehkment pulled into Mia's driveway.

"You all right?" asked Sehkment, pulling the car into park and turning off the engine. He looked at the front door. "Y'know. . . you're gonna have to face them sometime, but I'm gonna tell you now – your friends are not doing so well right now – especially Ryo, Rowen, and Kento."

I nodded, and Ariel squeezed my hand. "It's okay, Daddy," she said.

I closed my eyes and winced. Introducing the guys to Ariel was NOT going to be easy – how was I going to explain what happened in front of Ariel? She didn't need to know that – at least, not now – but my friends deserved SOME kind of explanation. I just needed to figure out HOW to give that explanation.

Sehkment, meanwhile, had opened the door next to my seat. "We have arrived, sir," he said, giving me a mock bow. I narrowed my eyes at him as Ariel giggled. Of course a five year old would find it hilarious that one of her father's friends was teasing him, but I wasn't as amused by it as I got out of the car.

As soon as I had closed the car door, the front door burst open and Kayura – now looking a little older (and a little more attractive) burst out in anger. "SEHKMENT! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? YOU SON OF A BITCH I SWEAR I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF MYSELF! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"

Sehkment raised a hand and placed it over her mouth. "Kid," he said, gesturing to Ariel (who smiled and waved at Kayura despite her tyrade). "Watch the potty mouth, Kayura, or else her dad's gonna be pretty pissed off at you and he just Super Wave Smashed an ogre from the back of my car a little while ago, so I'd think it would be best not to anger him."

Kayura slowly turned her eyes to me, and they widened in surprise. I swallowed hard, unsure of what to say, but Ariel immediately went up to Lady Kayura. "You're a pretty lady! Do you know my daddy and Mr. Sehkment? My daddy's like Sailor Moon because he can make a magic armor appear and beat up monsters!"

I laughed nervously and shrugged. "Kids – what are you gonna do?"

Sehkment removed his hand from Kayura's mouth, allowing her to speak. "Cye," she said. She turned back to Sehkment for an explanation, who just smiled and shrugged. She turned back to me, then looked down at my daughter, and back up at me. "So. . . I think I understand why you've been absent these past few years."

I nodded. "I think I owe you all an explanation," I said. "I was hoping to have a friend of mine watch her for a few days, but as Ariel and Sehkment pointed out, we had a slight ogre problem that changed our plans at the last minute, although I suppose she's safer here than she would be elsewhere."

"That's probably true," said Kayura. She knelt down and smiled at Ariel. "So your name is Ariel, huh? My name is Kayura, and your father is a friend of mine." Ariel nodded enthusiastically. "Well, let's head inside, all right? There's a big friendly tiger in there and maybe you can play with him for a little, all right?"

Ariel froze. "Don't they eat little kids?"

"This one doesn't," said Kayura. "His name is White Blaze and he's very good with children. We'll go find him so you two can play while the adults talk, all right? He's basically just a very big kitty cat and he's incredibly sweet when he needs to be. I'm sure you'll be fine with him, okay?"

I nodded. "If you'd like we can make sure Mr. Sehkment stays with you," I said.

"Okay. . ." said Ariel.

"I take it you've explained things to Sehkment already?" asked Kayura.

"Yes – Ariel and I were at a park playing outside for a bit when Ariel's ball hit Sehkment while he was trying to take a nap in the grass – I must say I was a bit surprised to see him after all this time, and he looked quite shocked to see me," I said. I looked at Sehkment. "As for watching Ariel for me, would you do it, please? Or would that be too much to ask?"

Sehkment sighed. "Whatever, Cye. I'm turning into your freakin' babysitter, sheesh," he said. He looked at Ariel, who had a funny look on her face, and rolled his eyes. "C'mon – let's go play with the kitty," he said, taking her hand and leading her into the house.

"They'll be fine," said Kayura. "If not, he'll answer to me."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

She grinned darkly at me. "They have a healthy amount of fear."

I laughed. "You can't scare me – I have a kid."

Kayura returned the chuckle. "What's so scary about her?"

"You won't understand until you have them," I said.

We walked into the house, and I felt a pit in my stomach. It was so familiar, so welcoming. . . and yet so very frightening at the same time. The furniture, the paint on the walls, the decor. . . it was like I was suddenly sixteen again for a moment. I froze a few feet in, and Kayura had to drag my hand.

"The others are upstairs in the library – well, some of them."

"Some?" I asked.

Kayura frowned. "Ryo, Rowen, and Kento have disappeared."

"What!?"

The last Ancient sighed. "We don't know what happened."

As we started up the stairs, Kayura explained the basic situation to me. Ogres similar to the one Sehkment and I saw showed up at the Koji manor – by the time things settled down, only Sage was left. The other Warlords came over as soon as they could, and they were discussing the matter when Sehkment and I showed up.

When we arrived outside the room, I was almost immediately greeted by an angry Cale. "You dumbass! We've got a full blown emergency and you're off – huh?" The former Warlord of Darkness, Corruption, and Decay just stared at me with his jaw dropped. "What the – where the hell did YOU come from?!"

Dais was the next one to emerg. Unlike Cale, he wasn't yelling. He raised an eyebrow, but then smiled. "Well, it's good to see you're in good health," he said. He pushed Cale out of the way and gave me a rather unexpected bear hug. "Even though I told Sehkment NOT to go looking for you it's good to see that you've finally come back to us!"

Apparently that was a trigger for Mia and Sage to skid out of the room. Both looked a little older, though many things remained the same. Sage still had the same haircut and the same mature air about him – it was just a little more developed. Even so, he still seemed very worried about something. Mia had cut her hair and her features seemed to also be a bit more attractive. Both of them, however, wore matching looks of shock on their faces.

"Cye?!" Sage asked. He stepped forward, eyes wide and his jaw dropped. "What the. . . how? Just, just HOW!?" The warrior of Halo stopped in front of me, unsure of what to do. "Cye. . . when did you come back? We've. . . it's been five years and. . . we were afraid something terrible had happened and. . ."

Kayura put a hand on Sage's shoulder. "Sehkment and Cye ran into each other while our favorite Ronin of Autumn was in Tokyo," she said calmly. "That is, he ran into Cye and someone else of extreme interest – which, if you don't mind, I think we'd all like to hear a full explanation."

"Full explanation of what?" asked Mia.

Kayura smiled. "Where his daughter came from."

"HIS WHAT!?"

I looked down. "Her name is Ariel."

Sage promptly sat down on the floor where he was, staring up at me in silence. Dais helped him back to his feet, leading him back into the temporary meeting room. Cale looked a bit unreadable, and Mia looked somewhat uncomfortable as she slowly walked back into the room. I turned to Kayura with a slightly annoyed and angry look on my face.

"Go on – explain yourself."

* * *

To make a long story short, I did.

Needless to say, the reaction I got was a bit mixed. Cale seemed ready to make a snide remark about the rape, but both Kayura and Dais were quick to shut him up with a smack on the head and an elbow to the gut (which pretty much kept him quiet for the rest of my time in the very much unwanted spotlight). Sage was awfully quiet, his head in his hands. Even though he wasn't saying anything, his body was trembling – he was angry. Mia and Kayura (well, once she was done hitting Cale) both immediately hugged me. Kayura apologized for being so blunt about Ariel (though admitted Sehkment's bluntness gave her no reason to think she should tip-toe around the issue).

"Cye, you should have told someone about what that girl did to you," said Dais. He folded his arms and crossed his legs, looking at me somewhat kindly and sympathetically. "The other Ronins are your friends – they would have helped you. Especially with the little girl – speaking of which, where is she?"

"Sehkment's watching her while she plays with White Blaze," said Kayura.

"She's only five years old – I don't want her knowing about her conception yet," I said. "I know I need to tell her something eventually, but I don't want her to grow up feeling guilty or anything. I love her to pieces and even though it's been tough I wouldn't give her up for anything. . . but as much as I want to be honest with her, I can't about this."

"Cye, keeping this from your child is understandable," said Mia, rubbing my back. "But I really wish you hadn't kept this from us – we could have done something. We would have helped you raise Ariel. It's a good thing Kojiro helped you but the two of you didn't have to do that alone."

Sage finally looked up and sighed. "Well, at least you're all right – are you?"

I sighed. "I still go to a support group."

Cale scoffed (and Dais elbowed him in a slightly more southern region).

"I was afraid," I said. "I still have nightmares about what happened and even though it's years later, it sometimes feels like it just happened. When it first hapepned I guess I didn't want you guys to know because I was afraid it would change how everyone treated me. I thought you guys would never let me leave the house by myself, or that my mother would force me back to England, or God knows what else."

Sage sighed. "I. . . guess I can't promise you none of that would have happened," he said. "I don't know if Sehkment told you, but the others have been a mess since you left and it's been terrible trying to take care of them sometimes. And no, I don't feel like I'm treating them the same way I used to but at times I feel like I don't have a choice."

"And based on that you're pretty sure you'd treat a rape victim the same way," said Kayura.

"Yeah, I guess," said Sage.

"Speaking of whom, we need to find them," said Dais. "But first let's find Sehkment and the little one she Sehkment can get filled in on what's going on – then we'll plan a strategy from there. We may be down three armor bearers, but we just found Cye again and I don't think Cye would have come here if he wasn't willing to fight."

"According to Sehkment, Cye Super Wave Smashed an ogre from the back of his car," said Kayura. She grinned as she stepped out of the room, turning back to wink at us and continued to talk as she moved down the hallway. "While it was moving. And the attack in question was at point blank distance, too."

Cale had a distant look in his eyes before they widened. "THAT'S AWESOME!"

* * *

I volunteered to cook dinner that night – the Warlords and Kayura had heard things about my cooking but never experienced it, and Mia and Sage offered no objections to my cooking. Ariel just wanted to make sure there were no green beans (yet she likes spinach, carrots, and peas – go figure). Yuli, I was informed, was studying in America for month and was not due back for another week.

With me watching (and Kayura explaining things to Sehkment in another room), the others introduced themselves to Ariel. My daughter, who was riding White Blaze like Ryo and Yuli and Mia had done many times before, smiled sweetly at them all and asked Cale where his big "boo-boo" had come from. Dais found this hilarious, and once he made sure Ariel wasn't looking, Cale flipped him the bird.

Mia in particular was very fond of Ariel, and Ariel seemed to like Mia in return. The woman who helped us so much during our battle gently took my daughter by the hand and asked if she would like it if she was read a story. Ariel nodded and followed me, White Blaze in tow (though the cat did stop long enough to rub up against me and give me a friendly snort hello – I scratched him behind his ears).

Satisfied that she'd be okay on her own for a little bit, I started making a simple pasta and sauce dish – good, from scratch, and satisfying, but not overly complicated to make. It was one of Kento's favorites, and reminding myself of that made me worry as I started stirring the sauce.

Sehkment had pointed out that although Sage was starting to come undone, Ryo, Rowen, and Kento were already undone with a loss of emotions, over dedication to work, and alcoholism. None of it seemed good. Kento was slowly poisoning himself, Rowen was either going to starve or tire himself to death and who knew what would happen with Ryo if that kept up? And the thought of the three of them missing was worrying.

"Um. . . do you need help with anything?"  
I turned away from the sauce I was stirring to see Sage had come into the kitchen. I widened my eyes – Sage didn't usually offer me help before, but then again, right now we were the only two elemental armor bearers with known locations – plus I HAD been away for five years – so I smiled and asked Sage to make a salad.

"I. . . know I probably should have called more often than I did," I said.

Sage shook his head as he washed the lettuce "It's okay."

"Not really."

"I guess so." He put the head of lettuce on the counter and looked at me. "We really missed you, you know. It was like a big part of all of us was missing. We aren't the usual sort, but we were. . . we ARE a family, aren't we?" I took a moment to think about it, and then I nodded. Sage smiled. "I'm glad you see it that way, too."

"Well, we all went through something fierce and stuck together for a while afterwards," I said. I laughed. "After all that's happened today, I can't figure out why I thought running away and not telling you all what happened was the right answer."

"So. . . why tell Kojiro?" asked Sage.

"Because after I got away from Sheila, I was almost hit by a truck," I said.

"You. . . tried to kill yourself?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so – I think I was just so upset over what happened that I was a little. . . numb. Kojiro happened to be walking by and pushed me out of the way and started to yell at me. But eventually he figured out something was wrong, brought me back to his place, and figured things out." I sighed. "I know he's not one of us, but he's been a major support for me these past few years."

"I thought he up and disappeared, too."

"Dumb luck that we found each other in Tokyo," I said. "We could have ended up at different shelters or Kojiro could have left before I got there or I might have never run into her that night with the baby and. . . as I said, it was completely dumb luck we ran into each other."

"Why did Kojiro ran away?"  
"His stepfather was a jerk."

"Ah."

I looked at Sage, who was absently slicing the lettuce – in the same place – and I knew there was something else on his mind. "Sage?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"There's another reason you-"

"I can't go through with my arranged marriage."

I blinked. "Um. . . do you not love her?"

"No! No I don't! I've never even met her! How can I LOVE her?" said Sage, shaking his head. He looked at me with desperate eyes. "You see. . . I. . ." He looked around, then closed the door to the kitchen, leaving us alone in the room. "I haven't told anyone about this yet. . . and I think you're the only one who can help me with this."

"Um. . . all right?"

"For the past four years. . . Mia and I have had a little. . Thing."

My eyes widened as I realized what Sage was implying when he said "thing". I almost dropped the spoon I was holding and couldn't believe my ears. "You mean. . . all this time. . . you and Mia. . . you. . . Mia. . . our Mia. . . you've been sleeping with -MMMPH!"

Sage put his hand over my mouth and a finger to his lips as he nodded. "It didn't start out that way!" he said. "The two of us were watching the others fall apart around us and one night about two and a half years ago. . . that's when it started, and at first that's where we thought it would end but it didn't, and then one evening I realized I was in love with Mia and she felt the same way."

My first thought was something like this: _Mia and SAGE!? How long has this been going on? I mean, yes, Sage might be the best looking of us all and the most collected and I guess I was a little unavailable and the others have problems but good Lord I wasn't expecting that! Mia and SAGE!? Sage and MIA!? MIA!? SAGE!?_

And then my thoughts shifted. _What the hell, Sage!? We've got three friends missing, we're basically under attack by some unknown enemy and suddenly you want to talk about your love life? Come on, Sage, I thought you of all people would be able to keep your priorities straight! Can't we worry about this AFTER we get this situation resolved!?_

"But it's not just that," he said. "I've been freaking out as of late because. . ."

"Because what?" I asked.

Sage looked ashamed. "Things have been really intense for a while. . . it wasn't always this serious but we think one of the condoms broke but we didn't notice it and we couldn't do anything about it but then. . ." Sage gulped, and I knew what he was about to say. "Mia's kinda. . . pregnant."

I dropped the spoon on the floor. _Mia's gonna have a baby?! And Sage is the father?! That explains why Sage has lost his head! Bloody hell he's going to be a father!_ I inwardly frowned. _And to a woman he's not allowed to marry because he parents want him to marry someone else – maybe even a complete stranger. No wonder he wants – no, NEEDS – to talk about this now! He can't fight like this!_

Sage sighed. "That's why I'm freaking out. My parents don't know about Mia and want me to marry someone else, but I want to marry Mia and do the right thing – and, you know, I love the woman, too. Then this happens and makes things worse – what if these things go after Mia because of my involvement with her, or if they find out she'd pregnant with my child? I mean, didn't it already go after Ariel?"

Now Sage approaching me specifically was beginning to make a little more sense. _Ah. There's the connection. I'm the only experienced parent in this house right now that he knows about and the only one with a situation even remotely close to his – Mia could be in as much trouble as Ariel might be. _"That's why you want my advice," I said slowly.

Sage leaned up against the counter. "I don't know what I should do. Now that I'm going to be a father, it makes things a lot harder," he said. "A few months ago I would have been able to go into battle without much of a problem – it feels like it would have been one thing to leave Mia behind if I got killed. She's smart and strong and she could take care of herself and she understands the armors – I feel like she'd understand. I mean, she's MIA. She knew more about the armors than we did the first time we fought Talpa. She's the reason we were able to rescue each other after Talpa scattered us. Believe me I don't want to leave her like that but she and I made it clear to each other in the beginning that if something came up and I needed to fight again that she would not hold me back from doing what I had to do."

I nodded. "Sounds like something Mia would do."

Sage closed his eyes and put his fist to his mouth. "But I don't want to leave her knowing she'd be pregnant and then raising a baby by herself. I know you did it – raised a kid on your own, I mean – but we never talked about what would happen if a baby was involved. Me making that promise to Mia is one thing, but the baby? That scares me."

I folded my arms. "The thought that I might die and and leave Ariel scares me as well," I said. "I can't say I understand what it's like to be in your shoes as an _expecting_ father since I didn't know about her until after she was born, but she's the most important thing in the world to me right now. She's my daughter, and everything changed when Sheila told me she'd gotten pregnant and had the baby."

"What do we do?" asked Sage.

"As much as it sucks, we don't have much choice but to fight," I said. "If we don't do anything, whatever it is we're dealing with might destroy the world – we have to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen. Even if Ariel and your unborn child have to live without us. . . at least they'd be living. It's not an ideal situation, but it's better than Ariel getting hurt or your child never taking a breath of their own."

"Or we get killed and there's nothing to protect them."

"Well, Mia would understand you didn't die without a fight – Ariel might not."

"Why?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Because she's five?"

Sage turned around. "It never occurred to me we'd have to deal with this."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, and Sage turned his head. "I'll protect you."

"What?"

"You watch my back so I can get back to Ariel," I said. "I'll watch yours so you can marry Mia and live to see your child born." I smiled. "But. . . you might want to let everyone else know what's going on – including your parents. If they love you, they'll understand that even if they wanted you to marry some pure-bred upper class girl who's probably spent most of her life training to be someone's wife, you need to be with Mia – even if it's just for the baby in their eyes."

Sage nodded. "Seems like an awkward thing to bring up."  
"Well you can always catch them while they're cooking dinner."

Just then, Dais came into the kitchen. Sage seemed a little nervous that maybe he'd heard something, but the look on his face told me his mind was elsewhere. Still, he'd barged in on what was definitely a private conversation between Sage and me. I frowned at him. "Could you have knocked?"

Dais scratched his head. "In the kitchen?"

I sighed. "Never mind – what is it?"

"Have you guys seen Cale?"

Sage and I exchanged a look – we both shrugged. "No," said Sage. "Why?"

"I can't find him and he's not answering his cell phone," said Dais. He looked very worried. "I know Cale's not the nicest guy in the world but he's still my friend and I know him. He takes off sometimes but I don't think he'd do it now that we're in the middle of a crisis! I think whatever got the others might have gotten Cale, too!"

* * *

Author's Notes

DUN, DUN, DUUUNNNNNN!!!!

This story just seems to be a lot better with the Warlords involved. Still, the humor probably needs to get toned down a LITTLE bit, but I'm glad Sage and Mia's affair is in the open – at least to Cye.

-Dixxy


End file.
